The Long Way Home
by TheGoodSir
Summary: In an attempt to save the world from darkness once and for all, Sora sacrifices himself despite protests from his friends. The plan seemed foolproof until the darkness returned. Can Sora’s friends restore him to his former self and go home together?
1. Chapter 1: Lurking in Darkness

**The Long Way Home**

**Plot summary:** Sora's once again called into action to defend the worlds from darkness. However, as he continues to journey, his efforts to thwart his foes prove futile. When a mysterious prophecy comes into play and the Heartless are genetically restructured to resist the Keyblade of Light, Sora is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice: his light. With the Keyblade Master gone, can his friends pick up the torch and finish what he started? The story takes place immediately after KHII (like Mickey's note-in-a-bottle immediately).

**Notes:** This story alternates main characters between Sora, Roxas, Riku, and Kairi. It will always be told from the third-person omniscient perspective.

There are no pairings per se, aside from canon pairings that are mildly depicted should you look for them. I'm trying to mimic the game's portrayal of relationships (i.e. Sora and Kairi love each other but refrain from outright expressing this verbally.) This story remains true to Kingdom Hearts in that it depicts strong ties of friendship. There is more friendship here than romance.

I'm trying to make this story as canon as possible. Sure, a few things might slip here and there, but no one said I was perfect.

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

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**Chapter 1: Lurking in Darkness**

Darkness loomed over the once lively town. The street lamps flickered on one by one, only to be snuffed out in similar succession. A great wind blew in, picking up and knocking around abandoned shopping bags, newspapers, and cups of coffee. It raged through the streets, moaning and wailing against the securely shut doors of shops and homes.

A lone kitten with ginger fur peeked out from a darkened alleyway. Instinctively sensing cold, merciless eyes upon its being, it cautiously roamed out onto the sidewalk. Daring out into the open, the kitten pawed at a wooden door with a sign reading "INN" suspended above it, familiarly scratching away at a hollowed dent. No one answered the door.

A thick mass of darkness swarmed around the tiny feline and sent cold, cheerless shivers down its spine. Piercing yellow orbs formed within the black matter, gradually breaking away to group into pairs. Three pairs of yellow eyes inset within massive bulges of darkness fell upon the kitten. The darkness melted into six shadow-like creatures with razor-sharp claws. The kitten mewed in terror, feeling its heart beating rapidly.

It was trapped.

Heart-hungry claws rose to the air ready to strike at the prime morsel before them. A flash of swooping darkness forced the feline's eyes shut in petrifying fear. The darkness bulged only to thin out when a burst of light pierced its way through the ring of six shadows.

"_Strike Raid!_" hollered a voice in the distance. The shadows were repeatedly bombarded with a giant key of silver and gold dissipated within seconds. Bright red, heart-shaped flashes escaped into the air immediately after the shadows vanished. Like a boomerang, the key had come and gone.

The kitten gazed out into the street in anxious anticipation when a gentle hand came to rest on its head. "It's okay, little guy. The Heartless are gone now." The kitten pushed its furry head into the caring hand belonging to a young man with bright blue eyes and spiky brown hair.

"I wouldn't bet on that!" howled a hurried voice from behind the young man. "Sora, we've got problems!"

Sora turned around, the giant key gripped tightly in his right hand. He watched somewhat amused as a white and brown terrier crossbreed sporting a pair of shades on his snout and a red bandana tied securely around his neck flew down the street. He was fleeing from a trio of shadows several times larger than the ones previously encountered.

"What's the matter, Dodger? You've dealt with Heartless before!" shouted Sora with a grin. "They're just Large Bodies. Bite 'em from behind!"

"Yeah, but these guys look like they've eaten all the Heartless I've ever fought in my life!" cried Dodger. "They're fat, man! They're trying to squish me between their blubber! Help a buddy out, would ya?"

"And here you were preaching to me about street smarts and not worrying!" chuckled Sora. "How did that go again…? '_Why should I worry? Why should I care?_' Guess it doesn't apply anymore?"

"Grr! Okay, okay. Enough! Just whack these guys!" barked the canine. He hurdled himself away from a lunging Large Body, his shades slipping off in the process. The Heartless slammed itself into a large, brick building, leaving behind an enormous recess in its wake. "I could've been squashed by that! C'mon, Sora!"

The kitten looked up at Sora with worrying eyes. Sora smiled and winked at his feline friend. Petting the kitten one more time, Sora took a fighting stance. Bending both his knees, he pushed himself off the ground and lunged himself towards the stumbling Large Bodies. Sliding underneath the overweight shadows, the Key Bearer pivoted around his foot and swung the key in a horizontal slash across the backs of all three Large Bodies. Each collapsed onto their bloated stomachs and disintegrated, leaving behind another mass of hearts to escape into the sky.

Dodger paraded circles around Sora, jumping for joy. "Ha, ha! Good work, kid! Those gluttons were no match for your Keyblade," he barked happily.

Sora smirked. "So what did you do to merit being chased by three overweight Heartless? You weren't hanging around the restaurant district again, were you?"

"What can I say, kid? Digging around town for info all day makes a dog hungry. Had to recharge my batteries," replied Dodger while casually scratching behind his ear with his paw. "Speaking of which, I've found out something really interesting on my tour around town."

"Too bad it'll have to wait. It's still pretty dark out so I'm sure there are a few Heartless left," said Sora as he glanced around the ghostly streets. A haunting darkness still lingered and the Key Bearer was determined to find its source. "We have to stop them before someone gets hurt."

"As long as you handle the fat ones, I think I'll come along and give you a spare paw," Dodger declared, earning a pat on his reddish-brown head by the young man.

"Thanks, Dodger. I could use some help now that I've been separated from Donald and Goofy…" he said with a sad smile. He winced slightly as the events from three days ago threatened to replay in his mind.

"First Riku and Kairi, now Donald and Goofy…" thought Sora to himself. "Why do these things keep happening? Can't we just get one peaceful moment home without having to chase after Heartless?" He sighed. "I'll save them. No matter what, I _will _save them."

"Hey, cheer up, kid. With my street smarts and your Keyblade, everything'll get better in no time," encouraged Dodger. He licked Sora sloppily on the cheek. Sora smiled at the dog.

"I'll help, too!" enthusiastically chimed in an approaching voice. Sora looked up and saw the ginger kitten he had rescued earlier making its way towards Dodger and himself, dragging along a pair of black sunglasses in his mouth.

"Everything okay, Oliver?" called out Sora. The kitten nodded its head and reached his destination. He dropped the sunglasses at Dodger's paws and then looked up at the dog in anticipation.

"Heh, thanks kid," said Dodger as he flipped the shades back onto his snout. He then ruffled Oliver's fur with his paw.

"So how about it, Sora? Can I come too?" Oliver asked eagerly.

"I don't know… The Heartless can be pretty dangerous," Sora said thoughtfully placing his finger to his chin. "Maybe you should go to the Inn and wait."

Oliver pounced on Sora's head and playfully pawed at his spiky locks. "Come on, Sora! I don't have to _fight_ the Heartless! I can toss you potions when you need them, " he offered.

"Okay, okay," Sora chuckled. "We'll all go together, then." He happily stroked Oliver's fur and took another glance around town. "Hmm… I wonder where the rest of the Heartless are hiding?"

"I'll tell you in a second," said Dodger. He bent his head downwards and began sniffing the ground.

Sora took this opportunity to stretch his arms above his head. "Let me know when you've got a trail," he replied, still stretching out his limbs.

"I have a trail for you…" seethed a haunting voice. Everyone froze. Dodger's ears sprang up instantly and growled menacingly as the darkness thickened.

"Who said that?" questioned Sora cautiously. He futilely squinted his eyes in an attempt to see in the deepened dark. "Show yourself!" Sora gripped the Keyblade tightly in both hands and bent his knees into a fighting stance.

"I have a trail for you…" repeated the eerily cold voice. The temperature dropped and the darkness continued to swallow the town until everything was pitch black.

His surroundings no longer visible, Sora swung the Keyblade high above his head. "Fire!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. A burst of light protruded from the tip of the Keyblade and surrounded the Keyblade Master with a ring of fire, illuminating a portion of the surrounding area in the process. Sora took in his surroundings but failed to locate the origin of the voice. Aside from the intensified darkness, nothing appeared strange or out of place.

Dodger continued to growl, standing dutifully next to Sora. The Keyblade Master glanced down at his companion. "Hey, do you think you can sniff him out, Dodger?"

"Grr… I hear him…" growled the mongrel between clenched teeth. "He's getting closer." Sora nodded and fixed his gaze forward while straining his ears listening intently for the progression of footsteps. Heavy, measured clacks sounded off in the distance. They were faint at first, but as they drew nearer, Sora noted a second sound accompanying them—the clinking of a chain.

Again, the voice called out, "I have a trail for you…" this time joined by low, raspy breathing. The steady clacks of footsteps grew louder and a tall, shadow danced into visibility by the flickering flame-emitted light. Sora noticed it's heavily spiked gauntlets first. Gripped tightly by them was a large, silver chain of which the excess dropped to the figure's side and supplied a steady clinking. At the end of the chain, firmly resting in the figure's right hand was spiked metal sphere.

The shadowed enigma progressed ever closer into the light revealing its complete form. Sora instinctively sought out his opponent's eyes first, but failed to meet his gaze as the as it was shrouded behind a black hood much like that of Organization XIII's standard-issued black coat. The menacing opponent was not wearing a simple leather coat, however. He was heavily clad in black armor from the neck down.

"With that armor there, I doubt I can damage this guy," thought Sora. He tightened the grip around his Keyblade. "But if I strike at his head, that should be his weak point! Wonder why he didn't think to wear a helmet or something?"

The clacks of the enemy's boots halted. He stood mere feet from Sora and intensified his breathing. Still gripping the chain, he lifted his left arm and extended his index finger at Sora. "I have a trail for you…" he breathed.

"I heard you the first three times!" Sora shot somewhat annoyed. He cautiously eyed his opponent, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

The armored man gripped his left hand into a fist still suspending it in air. "A trail…" The chain clinked. "…of…_destruction!_" He swung his right armor in a clock-wise motion and flung the ball at the Keyblade Master.


	2. Chapter 2: Ball and Chain

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. They are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Ball and Chain  
**

"Whoa!" Sora jumped high into the air, avoiding the impact of the spiked ball, which created a rather large crater in the street. He landed back on his feet and motioned to charge at his opponent before the ball and chain were collected for another shot. Gripping the Keyblade in both hands, Sora hurdled himself towards his enemy aiming for the unprotected hood. Within seconds, the Keyblade slammed into the hooded figure's head. Piece of cake! …Or not. The hood tore in half, its tattered pieces falling to the ground.

Momentarily caught off guard by the shocking sight under the hood, Sora was flung back against a street post. "Oh man…" Sora groaned. He immediately flipped himself back onto his feet and stared at his opponent in disbelief. "You, you're… That's not possible!"

Standing before Sora and reeling in his brutal ball of death was a pale, heavily scarred young man with deep gashes inset on his face. His eyes were concealed behind a tattered, moth-eaten black blindfold. Although more scraggily than Sora remembered, the young man had long, silver hair draping down to his shoulders and back. Aside from his strangled voice, the largest difference Sora took note of was the metallic plate bolted to the young man's head. Sora winced, contemplating the pain surrounding the history of the plate's placement.

The armored enemy hurled the ball once more at Sora, who reacted in a slightly sluggish manner, barely dodging the attack. One of the jagged spikes managed to tear into Sora's shoulder, leaving behind a medium-sized wound. "What's going on here? That can't be Riku!" exclaimed Sora, clasping a hand over his injured left shoulder.

"Hey, kid! Don't let your guard down!" Dodger leapt from behind Sora bearing his fangs and plunged himself at the enemy.

"Dodger, no!" yelled Sora, but it was too late. With a flick of his spiked gauntlet, Riku sent a whimpering Dodger flying. "Dodger!" Sora ran to the injured mongrel and knelt beside him. He placed a hand on Dodger's back, nudging him. "Hey, come on! Open your eyes!" Despite Sora's efforts, Dodger remained motionless. "No…"

"Here, Sora! This should help!" Oliver nudged a bright blue bottle by the Keyblade master's hand. Sora didn't waste an instant in tearing off the cap and pouring some of the pale liquid over his companion's wounds.

"That should help the wounds," thought Sora. "But he'll need to drink some of this potion in order to wake." He tried to force Dodger's mouth open, but halted immediately at the sound of whistling coming from behind. "Look out!" The Keyblade vanished into a flash of light as Sora collected Oliver into his arms and jumped into the air. Riku's spiked ball landed precisely where Sora had been kneeling, leaving a gaping crater near the idle Dodger.

"That was close!" exclaimed Sora. He touched back down the ground and poured a few drops of the potion onto his cut shoulder. Setting the bottle down, he nodded at Oliver. Sora summoned the Keyblade back into his grasp and charged at the zombie-like Riku. "Take it to Dodger!" he hollered over his shoulder.

Again, the ball and chain whizzed past Sora as the Keyblade master advanced on his opponent. The momentary pause Riku took to reel his ball back in provided ample opportunity for Sora to take a few stabs with the Keyblade. However, the Keyblade merely bounced off Riku's armor. "Just like a Large Body…." thought Sora. He rolled out of the way as Riku swung his arms backwards and sent the ball flying towards him. With a flick of the wrist, Riku sent the ball flying towards the rolling Keyblade wielder. Sora continued to dodge and roll, strategizing in his head as he did so. Finally, he swerved around and planted his feet firmly in the ground preparing to block the advancing ball with the Keyblade. The jagged iron ball forcefully smashed into the Keyblade. Sora pushed back with all of his might, refusing to give into the pressure. He mustered all of his strength, and with one forceful push of his own, sent the ball flying back at its caster. Riku nearly toppled over from the recoil, but he regained his balance.

"Can that really be Riku? I don't know what happened to him since we left Disney Castle..." thought Sora as he began to advance. "I have to be sure. I have to be sure it's him, and there's only one way to do it!"

Riku took the chain in both hands and swung the ball high above his head while Sora dashed towards him. Swerving his entire body, Riku launched the ball at Sora, the Keyblade master jumping instinctively to dodge the attack. However, Riku flicked his wrist, effectively whipping the chain and sending a wave traveling down the links. The chain bulged upwards and entangled around Sora's legs. Riku yanked the chain downwards immediately, sending Sora crashing to the ground. Forcing all of his weight and might into pulling the chain, Riku yanked his prey towards him.

Sora slid ever closer towards the armored zombie. He stared straight ahead, clutching the Keyblade tightly in his right hand and waiting…waiting…waiting…NOW! Sora forced his left palm downwards and propelled himself into the air, the chain still hauling him ever closer to his enemy. Sora took Riku by surprised and lunged himself straight for Riku's head. Extending out his free hand, Sora tore the blindfold clear off his opponent and for a split second, gazed into Riku's eyes. They were of a faded bluish tint, holding no life or emotion. Both enraged and relieved at this revelation, Sora forcefully rammed the Keyblade into Riku's neck, effectively causing the armored enemy to grunt in pain and loosen his grip on the chain.

Sora wiggled free of the chains and touched back down on the ground. He grit his teeth, clutching the blindfold in his hand. "You! You're just a look-alike trying to throw me for a loop! One look in Riku's eyes… and I'd know for certain. You can't fool me!"

In a fit of rage, the zombie Riku roared and violently swung the ball at the Keyblade master. Sora fell back into the pattern of dodging. "He has to have a weakness somewhere! It's clearly not his head or neck." Sora's train of thought was cut off when the spiked ball whizzed past his nose. Sora swung around and blocked the second assault. The chain, however, wrapped itself tightly around the Keyblade. The zombie snorted and once again forced all of his weight into yanking the chain.

Struggling immensely, Sora held onto his Keyblade and desperately tried to level his footing. After several excruciatingly long minutes of this insane tug-o-war match, his large, yellow shoes began sliding forwards. "Think! There has to be a way out of this!" Sora desperately tried to envision an effective strategy, knowing he could not hold out against such brute force for much longer. His knee eventually gave in, forcing Sora to kneel. He refused to give in, however, and continued to run ideas through his mind.

"Got it!" Sora exclaimed, a battle strategy burning bright in his mind. He smirked and held his Keyblade firmly only to realize the force pulling his Keyblade had dissipated. Confused, Sora glanced up at zombie Riku, who stood motionless, the chain lax in his hands. "Huh…?"

"Hey, kid! You were right!" called out a voice from behind Riku. The zombie's eyes rolled back and he fell to his knees with a loud thud! "Biting them in the back works wonders!" Dodger pranced around the zombie and trekked over to Sora.

"Dodger!" Sora jumped to his feet and greeted the mongrel with a smile and a pat to the head. "What did you do exactly?"

"Street smarts, kid. You distracted the big guy while I took my time finding the exposed tail he had." Dodger lazily scratched behind his ear.

"His…tail…?" Sora gazed down at the dog, utterly perplexed. "Riku's look-alike has a _tail?_"

"What, you didn't notice?" Another loud thud emerged from the direction of the zombie. It fell flat on its face, lying completely devoid of life on the street.

"Riku with a tail? I have to see this!" mused Sora. He approached the zombie with a fair amount of caution. There protruding out from a hole in the armor was a lengthy, silver tail.

Sora brought his fingers to his chin. "This raises a lot of questions. Who would make a Riku zombie, and why give it a tail?" he pondered.

"Whoa, kid, let's not even go there," said Dodger wagging his own tail. "Who'd want to picture a dog without his tail?"

Sora chuckled. "But Riku isn't a dog, Dodger. He's like me—a human."

"Yeah, but you were a dog once, ya know?" huffed Dodger.

"Donald's magic wore off when I left that world," explained Sora for what seemed to him like the hundredth time. "This is what I really look like."

"Whatever you say, kid," replied Dodger in an uninterested tone. "Just wish you'd use some of that voodoo to conjure up some grub. Boy, am I starved!"

"Uh, guys?" Sora turned towards Oliver who came scurrying towards him. "Have you noticed it's still dark?"

Sora glanced around. Although it was no longer pitch black and he could make out the shapes of broken lampposts, craters, and newly created recesses within the surrounding buildings, the town was still far too dark and desolate to be considered safe.

Sora summoned his Keyblade back into his hand. "We still need to track down the remaining Heartless from earlier. Hopefully we won't run into anymore zombies."

"Actually, I think our scouting mission's over," replied Dodger.

"What makes you say that?"

Dodger nudged his head to the side, Sora's gaze following the intended direction. A swarm of shadows were inching their way towards them.

"Well, at least they're only shadows," sighed Sora. He dashed towards the Heartless, swinging his Keyblade every-which-way until dozens of hearts ballooned up into the sky and vanished.

The darkness finally faded into bright daylight, and Sora was able to take a good look at the town. "I think a 'trail of destruction' is an understatement," noted Sora as he glanced around at all the debris caused by the fight. He wrapped his hands behind his neck and sighed. "It looks like a maelstrom hit."

"Hoo-boy! I hate to think how much it's gonna cost to fix this place up!" joked Dodger.

"Yeah…" sighed Sora. "Oh, that's right!" Sora jumped slightly. "What information did you learn from the folks around town, Dodger? The only thing I found out about was the sale at the item shop. Three potions for the price of one!"

Dodger snorted. "My info's a bit better than that, kid."

"What'd ya learn, Dodger?" Oliver jumped around excitedly.

"Whoa, kid. Take it easy," Dodger tipped his head so his shades slid down slightly and his eyes became visible. "Like I was saying before, I learned something really interesting in the restaurant district today." Sora held up his fists in anticipation. "It's a really juice bit of info, I'm telling ya. It's the fruit of my street know-how."

"Just tell us already!" urged Sora.

Pausing for a moment to intensify his response, Dodger slowly disclosed his important information. "Heh, half off at the House of Waffles this Thursday only." He flicked his head upwards and sent the shades back into their original position.

"Dodger!" cried Sora. "That's not important info!"

"Heh, just pulling your leg, kid. Someone said they saw a strange guy with a huge sword at the café. Now, it might just be me, but guys with huge swords casually hanging around a café sounds fairly suspicious, don't ya think?"

"Dodger, that's awesome news!" Sora jumped for joy. "Let's head over there right now!"

"Hey, Sora? How do you know the man with the sword won't try to hurt you like that other guy?" questioned Oliver.

Sora paused for a moment, placing his fingers to his chin. "Well, I don't know for sure. The situation could swing either way." He placed a hand over his chest. "But, I have this feeling in my heart that a friend is waiting for me there."

"That's some pretty big talk comin' from the guy who bought my waffle story," chuckled Dodger.

"Hey, no fair! I have a lot on my mind!" argued Sora.

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, kid. Just know I'm taking off to get some food while we're in that part of town."

Oliver joined Dodger's side. "Can I come?" he inquired. "I'm kind of hungry…"

"How about this," interrupted Sora. He rubbed his growling stomach. "We'll _all_ get something to eat while we're there? I'll pay, of course."

"You've got yourself a deal, kid," replied Dodger with a smirk.

"Yay! Food!" exclaimed Oliver.

Sora patted both of his friends and walked with them towards the district of town heavily populated with restaurants and eateries of all types. While walking, he glanced around town noticing people cautiously creaking open doors to test the safety of the environment. Slowly but surely, the streets buzzed with people once more and Sora smiled to himself satisfactorily.

"No matter what happens," he thought, "I'll keep fighting the Heartless until people can live freely without worry. I'll make sure their homes are safe."

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**Notes:** If the tail and zombie seem out of place, don't fret. I guarantee there's a good Disney explanation behind it. Trust me. Kingdom Hearts just wouldn't be the same without the Disney factor, you know?

Anyway, on a side note, you can't really have KH without Final Fantasy either, right? Expect a nice cameo in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3: Hyperactive Drama

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Hyperactive Drama  
**

The clock hanging high above the monument in the square struck 2:00PM when Sora & co. reached the restaurant district. Now recovering from the initial shock of the Heartless attack, the locals continued with their daily lives. Sora didn't miss the occasional gossip surrounding the attack, and tried hard to suppress a chuckle on several occasions. Some "theories" were outright hilarious.

"It was a publicity stunt," stated one woman, proud of her deduction.

"Really… A publicity stunt?" sarcastically said the man accompanying her. He stared in disbelief. "Please, _do_ tell what kind of publicity stunt would wreck half the town!"

"A poor one, I'd say," she casually replied, brushing a stray hair from her face. "Whatever they're selling, I'm not buying."

Overhearing the woman's comment, Sora rolled his eyes.

"Yo, Sora! That's the café over there," barked Dodger. He nudged his head in the direction of an open-area café similar to the one in Traverse Town's First District. Although it was fairly larger and lacked the moogle magic wax candles, it was overall an inviting structure standing at three stories tall. The top two floors were lined with pristine white balustrades and supported by white columns. The flooring was pure black marble, polished to perfection. The kitchen and cashier were inside, along with several small, black tables if customers opted to eat inside. However, the real emphasis was placed on outside dining. The tables outside were square and white with matching cushioned chairs.

"Wow, Dodger, you sure this isn't some fancy restaurant?" Sora cocked his head to the side, refusing to believe such a grand structure was indeed a simple café. "It must cost a fortune to eat here!"

"Nah, nah. It's cool," replied the mongrel scratching behind his ear. "Lots of people come here. Families, businessmen, kids—I've seen all types. It looks out-of-this-world, but they keep everything simple."

"Wonder why that is?" pondered Sora.

"It's called _philanthropy_," chimed in an approaching voice from behind Sora. He turned around to a young man in a blue and red tracksuit with fairly spiky blonde hair and a black tattoo on the left side of his face arching from the jaw to his forehead. "Sorry, couldn't help but overhear your conversation," he said panting.

Sora arched his brow. "You…heard our conversation?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed the young man with a smile. He realized Sora's worried, puzzled look and his sincere smile melted into an apologetic one. "I mean, I'm not stalking you or anything, if that's what you're worried about. Just have good hearing, ya know?" he added, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"That's not what's bothering me…" Sora eyed Dodger. "You heard him talk?"

The young man lowered his gaze at the dog and smiled energetically. "Yep! Sure did!"

"You don't seem surprised at all."

"Well, I would be. I mean, he _is_ a talking dog and all. But, ya know what? That's not the first talking dog I've seen!"

"I see… And do these talking dogs appear often?" joked Dodger with smirk.

"Well, it's only been two days since my last encounter," the blonde chuckled. He bent over and enthusiastically rubbed at Dodger's head, ruffling his fur. "But I could get used to this, I guess." The young man straightened himself. He then clenched his hands into fists and took a fighting stance. Sora, slightly taken aback by this motion, instinctively flexed his knees. "So like, I was on my way to deliver something to my buddy when all of a sudden…" The young man rhythmically hopped around punching the air as he continued to speak. "These two guys came rushing past me! They were being chased by some possessed shadows or something."

"Heartless?" inquired Sora.

"Yeah, sounds about right. My bud mentioned them once or twice. He rarely opens his mouth, but when he does, I try to commit it to memory, ya know?" The youth continued his martial arts, taking a sharp upper jab at the air. "So anyway, it was total panic everywhere! Those Heartless guys pounced on me, but I slapped 'em away with these fists o' mine!" He proudly lifted his fists in the air, shaking them eagerly to emphasize his point. Sora nervously smiled at the young man.

"So about those two guys…?"

"Right, right." The young man finally relaxed his arms at his sides. "The two guys—they weren't really guys, man! They were a dog and duck! And, and! They were wearing clothes! Not to mention they carried around some weapons!" The youth jumped around energetically with every description.

Sora jumped. "Did the dog have a shield?" he asked eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah! He did!"

"And the duck—was he carrying a staff?"

"Wow, lucky guesses all around! He sure did!" the blonde nearly shrieked his responses in sheer excitement. "I'm pretty sure it was a magic staff or something since he shot a few bolts at me for no real reason…" The young man adverted his eyes and whistled innocently.

"Sir—"

"Whoa, whoa!" The young man rapidly waved his open palms at Sora. "That just won't do, ya know? The name's Zell!" He rubbed his right hand clean on his pant leg and extended it to Sora. "Put it there, man!"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot. I'm Sora." Sora shook Zell's hand and nudged his head down towards his companion. "This is Dodger."

"Woof, woof and bow-wow to ya, guy," the mongrel joked. He lifted a paw to Zell who shook it enthusiastically.

"And this is Oliver," said Sora reaching for the cat who rested comfortably in Sora's hair.

"Whoa! And all this time I thought that was a hat!" exclaimed Zell. "A pretty funny hat I'd like to prank Quistis with, heh…" he muttered offhandedly to himself.

"So anyway, Zell, where did you see my friends?" pushed Sora eagerly.

"Oh, I get it! So you know them?"

"They're Donald and Goofy, two of my closest friends. We were separated three days ago," Sora explained. "I was really worried about them, but you've seen them two days ago, right? So that must mean they're okay!"

"Yep! Well, for the most part." Zell's smile sank slightly.

"What do you mean…?"

Zell rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I told ya that I'm delivering something to a friend, right?" Sora nodded. "Well, I was just passing by that particular world to deliver a different package. Kill two birds with one stone, ya know?"

"Are you some sort of delivery boy?" Sora inquired.

"Yep! I work for McDuck Enterprises, delivering sea-salt ice cream and skateboards all over the place!" proudly stated Zell. He lifted his head up with great pride.

"So you work out from Radiant Garden?"

"Sure do! Just started a few weeks ago! See, my bud lives there and he offered to help me get a part-time job." Zell scratched his nose. "Kinda why I'm running around trying to deliver this package to 'im. It's sorta to return the favor, ya know?"

"I can understand that. You're a good friend, Zell," Sora commented with a smile. "So where were you when you saw Donald and Goofy?"

Zell thought for a moment. "Oh, right!" he exclaimed. By now, Sora got used to his new friend's frequent bursts of energetic exclamations and hardly winced at all; maybe a twitch of the eye, but definitely not a wince. "So anyway, I was delivering some ice cream to a guy who lives just outside Twilight Town. Had to take a train to get there since my vessel was blocked or whatever. So like, I was just coming out of the train and just barely noticed the tower where the recipient resided when a chill ran down my spine. Thought it was just a breeze, ya know?"

Sora listened intently, nodding Zell to continue. "Well, I got to the door and knocked a few times. When no one answered, I knocked again slightly louder and harder. But, uh, not too hard, or anything!" Zell nervously rubbed his neck. "It's not like I put a dent in the door! Nope! I swear! It was already dented when I got there! Scout's honor!" He placed two of his fingers to his forehead and performed a mini salute. Sora merely sighed. "Yeah, so, no one answered. Talk about a bummer, man! The ice cream was melting, ya know?! According to regulations, if the recipient fails to receive the package, ol' Scrooge gets my head! So I, uh, left the box at the door with a note, hoping for dear sweet life the guy wouldn't file a complaint against me for 'melted and unsatisfactory contents', or whatever." Zell sighed and hung his head low.

"Hey, if no one's home, it's not your fault. Cheer up," encouraged Sora. Zell immediately sprang to life, taking Sora aback.

"Yep, you're right! So anyway, I turned to head back to the train and _that's_ when your friends seemingly popped out of nowhere, running from a mob of those Heartless guys." Zell flexed his arms proudly. "But don't worry! I gave those shadows the ol' one-two! Yeah, baby!! WHOO!!"

"Yo, Sora, kid. Is it just me, or does this guy have a few screws loose?" whispered Dodger. He carefully eyed Zell behind his shades, twitching his nose every so often.

"He's just full of life, Dodger," replied Sora with a half smile. "And maybe a little hyper."

"After the fight, I offered the two a ride on my vessel seeing as how that tower was all but abandoned, but they declined saying something about waiting for someone."

"Oh!" Sora pounded his fist into his palm. "Maybe they were waiting for Master Yen Sid!" Zell quirked an eyebrow. "He lives in the tower," explained Sora.

"Well, for their sakes, I hope he actually went back home. Too many Heartless, ya know?"

"Yeah…" Sora slouched and dropped his head dismally. Two of his best friends were forced to fend off who knows how many Heartless just to reach Twilight Town from that terrible world—the world that should never have existed. Sora was relieved they were able to escape from that dreaded dark place at all. It came as no surprise to him that hordes of Heartless would follow. After all, the Heartless followed him here to this town as well.

But then again, he never had a choice in coming to Phoenix Town. No… He was forcefully shoved into the tattering Gummi Ship. Block by block it crumbled as the engines strained to propel Sora away from the horrid battlefield, and away from his friends. He was effectively stranded here for the time being, taking residence at the Inn until an opportunity for his departure presented itself. To his surprise upon his arrival, Dodger and Oliver had stowed away on the Gummi Ship, albeit each for his own reasons. Dodger merely desired to loot Sora of all his possessions and Oliver was just looking for a warm, loving home. The three quickly became even closer friends than they had been when they first met during Sora's adventure in Sleepless City.

Sora continued to ponder quietly, all the while Zell ceased his constant smiling. He rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully, noticing the worried look on Sora's face. "Hey, cheer up! That duck really knew how to conjure up some mighty spells! I'm sure they'll be okay," Zell offered. "I mean, uh, not that I'd know first-hand about the strength of his spells or anything…" he laughed nervously. "Oh, oh! And that shield! Really tough and durable! Enough to crack someone's head in two!" Zell unconsciously rubbed the side of his temple gingerly, wincing in mild discomfort.

"Zell…" Sora looked up at the nervously laughing man. "Do you think you could give me a ride to Twilight Town?" His determined gaze pierced into the blonde's blue eyes.

Zell smirked and rubbed at his nose with his index finger. "Sure thing! S'no problem on my end!"

A smile stretched out across Sora's face. "Thanks, Zell!" He motioned to slap Zell on the back, but moved his hand instead to his growling stomach. Sora blushed and chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

Zell flicked his nose. "Heh, let's get something to eat first though. I'm kind of starved myself! I came here to eat earlier but some weird storm blew in and I blacked out for a while."

"Storm?" Sora arched his brow. "Oh! You mean the Heartless attack?"

"Uh… yeah…" Zell nervously chuckled and adverted his gaze.

"So, did you give any of them the ol' one-two?" Sora playfully jabbed Zell in the arm.

"Well, I tried! I managed to swipe away at some small shadows, but then these three fat guys came!" Zell wildly flung his arms around in circles. "They were so fat, man!! I'm telling ya! My fists literally _bounced_ off their blubber!"

Sora eyed Dodger and smirked. "Sounds familiar. So what happened?"

"Well…" Zell fixed his gaze to the side and muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said the recoil of my super-awesome punches sent me flying into a brick wall and knocked me out, okay?!" Sora and Dodger cackled at their friend. "Yeah, that's right! Laugh at my pain! Geez…" Zell dramatically slouched over and hung his head, sighing deeply. "No respect, I tell ya."

Sora ceased his laughed and placed an arm on Zell's shoulder. "Hey, come on. It's all in good fun!" Zell's smirk was barely visible. He enjoyed fooling Sora with his sarcastic dramatics.

Zell sprang up and jogged in place. "Yeah, yeah. C'mon, man! Let's just get something to eat! I hear the hotdogs here are to _die_ for! I was _this _close to eatin' one earlier!"

Chuckling at his friend's hyperactive mood swings, Sora turned towards the lavish café. He lifted his foot to walk forward, but slammed it back down in place, smacking his forehead. "Wait a minute! I almost forgot!"

"Who what-what with the what-what now?" Zell stared in confusion.

Sora turned to Dodger. "Didn't you say something about a man with a sword at the café? We have to find him!"

"Yeah, but kid, can't it wait until _after_ the grub?" the mongrel pouted.

"Did you say… guy with a sword at the café…?" interrupted Zell.

Sora looked up at Zell. "Yeah, have you seen him?" he asked with hope filled eyes.

Zell rubbed the back of his neck. "I see him everyday in the mirror!" He pointed to himself with his thumb. "That guy's me!"

Sora flinched slightly backwards in shock. "Huh? But you fight with your fists not a sword!"

"True, true. But I'm delivering a package to my bud, ya know?" Zell took another rub at his nose.

"So the package is a sword?"

"Kinda," Zell responded vaguely. He turned his attention towards the exterior area of the café.

"I don't understand. Mind explaining?"

"Nah, I'll just show ya!" Zell turned and left for the café. He jogged up to an empty table with a pristine white tablecloth. The legs of the table were hidden under the cloth, but a blunt, black object stuck out from underneath. Zell reached under the tablecloth and grabbed the black object. Yanking it out slowly, he produced a rather large blue blade, revealing the black object to be its hilt. The radiant blue faded into a silver panel with the engraving of a lion on both sides. Below the panel was a trigger, which rested near three inset grooves on the hilt. "Check it out!"

"Hey… That looks similar to the sword Leon's always carrying around!" Sora remarked while examining thoroughly.

"Yep! S'called a _Gunblade,_ ya know?" Zell held it proudly in his hands. "Came to this town special just for this baby! Turns out there's a really good blacksmith here, ya know? He's one of the best! Paid a pretty penny for this deal, but it's totally worth it! Squ—err, Leon'll flatten those creep Heartless effortlessly!"

"That's great, Zell!" Placing a hand to his chin, Sora added, "But why did you hide it under the table?"

Zell rubbed his neck and chuckled nervously, "Oh, well, eh-heh. The manager threatened to throw me out 'cuz I was scarin' the customers, ya know? But people didn't strike me as scared. This one woman asked me what I was advertising for and even tried to take a photo of me!" A smile crossed Sora's lips as he pictured the gossiping woman from earlier posing to take pictures with Zell and his sharp, lethal Gunblade. "Really, I know I'm photogenic, but I wasn't about to pass up on the hotdogs! Speaking of which… Let's sit down and eat, huh?!" Sora nodded and took a seat at the table. "WHOO!!" shrieked Zell as he plopped himself down in a seat, earning piercing glances from the other customers.

Dodger lied lazily at Sora's side, waiting for the food. Zell took up the menu he had abandoned when he encountered the Heartless and flung it at Sora. "Here ya go!"

Sora fumbled with the menu, caught off guard. "Huh? Shouldn't you look at it first?"

Zell waved his hand casually. "Nah, nah. I know what I'm getting!" He flung his hands into the air, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Hotdogs, baby!! WHOOO!! Hotdogs!!"

Nervously smiling, Sora opened the menu and tried real hard to pretend that everyone in the café was not staring at his table and whispering about the deranged blonde with the set of monstrous lungs.

Eventually a waiter cautiously edged to their table, severely eyeing Zell. He took out his pen and pad from his pocket. Pointing the pen at Zell he said, "I, along with everyone in this establishment, know what _you _want sir." He turned to Sora. "What shall you have today, sir?" Sora placed three orders: a big pizza pie for himself, a big juicy steak for Dodger, and an order of sausages for Oliver. "Very good, sir. I'll be back with your order momentarily," the waiter said taking his leave.

Sora took another glance around the Greek styled café. "Hey, Zell? What were you saying about this café earlier?" Sora curiously inquired. "How can this fancy place afford to be open for casual people?"

Zell rolled his eyes up and thought for a moment. His fist flying down on the table, he jumped slightly in his chair and exclaimed, "Oh yeah!!" Surprisingly, no one stared this time, perhaps having gained immunity to Zell's outbursts. "Leave it to Know-It-All Zell to fill you in, baby! Whoo!!" Zell straightened himself in his seat and beckoned Sora to sit closer. Sora reluctantly leaned in and prayed his eardrums would still be intact five minutes later. Taking the tone of a storyteller--a surprisingly soft and deliberate tone—Zell cleared his throat and explained the history of the Phoenix Town Café.

"It all began about twenty years ago in a world of Two Cities. My boss, Scrooge McDuck, went there to seek out his fortune, ya know? Big bucks to make in the city," he said rubbing the tip of his index finger against the tip of his thumb. "Well, ol' McDuck became very greedy over the years. He stole from the rich and swindled the poor. His personality wasn't all that grand either. Really nasty, bitter, heartless guy. Didn't care much about his family and he didn't have any friends."

"That's terrible! Doesn't sound at all like the Scrooge I met." Sora thought back to his encounter with the Scottish duck. He had been happy to see Donald and Goofy again after such a long time. He even let Sora test out his prototype skateboard for free as many times as he wanted! "So what happened?" he pressed.

"Well, after years of his miserly ways, one fateful Christmas turned his whole life around. He was visited by three spirits on the night of Christmas Eve."

Sora stared wide-eyed. "Wow, really?"

"Yep! They were the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future." Zell paused to rub the bottom of his nose. "So like, the ghost of Christmas Past showed how Scrooge _used_ to be before money corrupted his heart. The ghost of the Present allowed Scrooge to see just how black his heart had turned over the years. And, of course, the ghost of the Future, well…heh. Let's just say ol' Scrooge didn't like what he saw."

"Poor Scrooge…"

"Well, not pleased at all with the outcome of his future, Scrooge begged and pleaded to the ghost for a way to change his fate. When he woke up in the morning, ol' Scrooge McDuck was a changed duck. He started giving away his money for charitable causes, making sure as many worlds as possible received a donation." Zell flung his thumb at the café. "So ya see? That's how this place came to be, and that's why he's opened a delivery service. It's not just for ice cream and skateboards, ya know? Although, I have to admit they're my two favorite items! Whoo!" Sora couldn't picture Zell's sugar rush after eating too many ice creams. He hoped to never be around Zell should that happen. Sugar, hyperactive teens, and skateboards don't mix.

"Wow, so that's Scrooge's story?" Sora nodded in approval. "I'm glad he opened his heart."

"Yep! That's the power of the heart! Capable of doing great things!" Zell shrieked, effectively signally the end of his rather placid storyteller mode.

Several minutes later, the waiter returned with several platters of food. Sora & co. dug into their food and spent the next fifteen minutes in relative quiet—well, aside from Zell's ranting and raving over the "awesome" hotdogs. When they finished and paid the bill, Zell and Sora both stretched and flexed out their muscles.

"Hoo-boy! Those were some mighty fine hotdogs! Whoo! Good food!" Zell took one last glance at his spotless plate, tempted to lick it once more for the road.

Sora merely shook his head and turned to leave. "So where's your vessel?" he asked over his shoulder.

"It's the company ship! The pride and joy of the Scrooge McDuck armada: the Ragnarok!"

Sora turned to look at Zell in disbelief. "Scrooge has an _armada?_"

Zell blushed and adverted his eyes. "Err… heh, I'm just blowing things out of proportion."

"Oh," muttered Sora, slightly disappointed. An armada would've been cool, even better to fight against the burgeoning population of Heartless.

"Eh-heh, _anyway_…" Zell stressed the last syllable fairly long, attempting to erase his previous slip of the tongue. "My ship's parked at this convenient parking garage just by the town's main gate. Can't miss it, really. We'll hop on over there and jet on out of here! WHOO!!"

Sora nodded in agreement as he traversed the streets of Phoenix Town for what he hoped would be the last time.

* * *

**Notes:** Riku and Kairi debut in the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4: The Letter

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Letter  
**

It began with a letter carried to the sandy shores of Destiny Islands by the azure tide. As the sun set over the waterscape horizon, the three friends stood side-by-side reviewing the contents of the message. It bore the King's seal, and that was enough to merit their full attention.

Sora stared blankly at the stretched piece of parchment in his hands, carefully reading over the note. His two best friends stood on either side of him, gazes fixed on the message. Riku, standing firmly to Sora's right, smirked lightly at the contents. Kairi on the other hand, who stood to Sora's left, wore a look of concern as she brushed strands of her red hair behind her ear.

"Well, this is unexpected," Sora said, effectively breaking the silence.

"The King and Queen are inviting us to their anniversary ball? Sounds like fun," added Riku, still smirking.

"But that's not all," Kairi said with a quiver of worry dancing on her brow. "It says Pluto's gone missing and His Majesty wants us to help search for him."

Riku shrugged. "Hey, it's no big deal. I'm sure he's just playing hide-and-seek or something." He playfully punched Sora in the arm. "Let's see who can find him first." Sora in return shot Riku a determined nod.

"Don't you think it's kind of odd for the King to ask us over to the castle a week early just to help search for Pluto if he were only playing 'hide-and-seek'? Something's definitely wrong."

"Well, I won't claim to know much about the situation, but we can ask the King when we see him," Sora finally spoke, rolling the letter up as he did so. "Whatever the problem is, I know we can handle it together." He shot Kairi a warm smile, effectively melting away a good portion of her fears.

Somewhat relieved of her Pluto fears, Kairi relaxed her posture slightly. Another pertinent problem remained buzzing in her mind, however. She voiced her thoughts to her friends, "Which also poses another important question: how do we get there?"

"Gee, Kairi, that's a really good question," said Sora frowning thoughtfully. He placed both hands behind his neck to cradle his head and pondered.

"Why not take the Gummi Ship?" offered Riku. He hoisted himself back onto the paupu fruit tree he customarily sat on and gazed down at his friends. Sora cocked his head to the side and shot Riku a curious glance. "Ha, ha. No, I'm not joking, Sora." He smiled smugly at his friend and pointed a finger skyward. Both Sora and Kairi lifted their gazes to the direction of Riku's finger.

"Huh…? I don't see anything." Sora squinted intently on the sky, examining it thoroughly for any shape resembling his beloved Gummi Ship—the very ship that he, Donald, and Goofy used to travel to other worlds during their adventures together.

"There!" exclaimed Kairi, now pointing her finger enthusiastically to the sky. "Look, Sora!"

"Where? Where?!" Sora exclaimed, shooting his head in every-which direction. "I don't see it!"

With a sigh, Kairi grabbed Sora's head. Placing a hand on either side of his cranium, she tilted it towards the direction of a rather bright, reddish object hovering in the distance. "Over there," she stated. Sora's eyes widened, transfixed on an object easily mistakable for a star.

Sora bashfully rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, I see it now. Thanks." He smiled sheepishly at Kairi.

"So, how about it?" asked Riku, his gaze dancing between his two friends.

"Well, I'm always up for another adventure!" replied Sora enthusiastically. "Kairi?"

Kairi sighed. "I suppose so. I admit, a ball sounds like fun. Still…" Kairi's eyes wandered around the now darkening island. The sun had almost completely set, soon to trade places with the moon. "You know, I wish we could have enjoyed just a little more time on the island together."

"Cheer up, Kairi. We'll be back before you know it!" Sora smiled widely at Kairi. "And then, we can spend some quality time on the beach – just the three of us."

"Yeah. Plus, playing hide-and-seek with Pluto only comes around once in a life time," joked Riku. He let an infectious chuckle escape his lips, and before they knew it, all three friends were laughing contently under the setting sun.

* * *

Several minutes later found Riku and Sora splashing around in the sea like fish without swimming instincts. They tried desperately to align themselves directly under the Gummi in order to trigger its proximity sensors. Once the Gummi Ship's main computer picked up the signal from the sensor in Sora's hand, it would automatically beam him aboard. However, the ship proved to be a tad bit out of range, so Riku offered to swim underneath Sora and push the boy up towards the ship. The plan seemed foolproof and Sora had agreed.

It was fairly dark by now. Thankfully, a full moon came to aid the boys' endeavors. It shined a brilliant light on the ship and allowed for spot-on alignment. Despite her protests, Kairi remained on shore waiting for her friends to call for the ship. She chuckled lightly while watching their antics unfold in the sea.

"Let's try one more time," breathed Riku, slightly out of breath. "On the count of three, I'll dive under water and push you up."

"Riku, maybe we should try something else," Sora offered. He knew they would likely have to try two or three times before it actually worked, but never did he imagine they'd reach a twelfth attempt.

"No, I'm sure it will work this time," protested Riku. "Ready?" Sora didn't even get a chance to reply before Riku began counting. "One…two….three!" He took a deep breath and bolted under water. Sora felt a forceful jolt under his feet and within seconds was propelled out of the water. Instead of going straight up, however, his body arched at an angle and he skid along the water's surface much like a human skipping stone.

Riku spat water out of his mouth and gasped for air. "This isn't working."

"I have another idea," Sora called out to Riku. He rapidly swam back over to his friend, panting lightly. "Let's use the technique Goofy, Donald, and I used to grab at objects in high, out of reach places."

Riku quirked an eyebrow. "Which entails my doing what…?"

"Goofy would hold me up on his shoulders while I balanced Donald on mine," Sora explained.

"I get it," replied Riku. He dove under water once more. Sora felt Riku's arms securely wrap around his legs as he was thrust out and high above the water. "Hurry, Sora! Can't hold on for long!" Riku grunted behind gritted teeth.

Sora nodded and stretched his arm out as high above his head as possible, threatening to dislocate his shoulder. "Come on… Just a little more!" He slid the device in his hand further up his fingers, trying to attain the maximum distance. A faint click sounded off and Riku collapsed, sending Sora plummeting. When he landed, however, it was not into the cold ocean, but rather the hard, metallic ground aboard the Gummi Ship.

Wincing slightly, Sora rubbed his aching head. His moment of peace was short lived however. Riku came toppling in, landing right smack on Sora's back. "Hey! Get off!" cried Sora. Riku let out a groan. He took in a deep breath of air and rolled off of Sora. "Geez, Riku! You nearly cracked my back!" Sora got to his feet and held out a hand for his friend, who reached out and hoisted himself up to his feet.

"Guess it worked, huh?" remarked Riku as he took a glance around the ship. The control panel encompassed the cockpit. In the very center were three white chairs with seatbelts. The centermost chair was closest to the ignition button. "Nice ship you have here," he commented.

"Thanks," replied Sora somewhat distracted. He busied himself pushing an array of buttons.

"What're you up to?" inquired Riku. He walked up to Sora, standing slightly behind him. Riku's back was now to the three seats in the center.

"Oh, you know. Just trying to disengage the autopilot, shut off the proximity sensors, and program a nice greeting message for the next time Donald pilots." Sora smiled wildly at his own last response.

Riku chuckled at his friend's silliness. "That's great and all," he began, trying his hardest to be audible over Sora's button-pushing frenzy, "but shouldn't you pick up Kairi first? I'm sure she's getting cold waiting for us."

Sora surprisingly halted his mad button bash and turned completely around to face Riku with a goofy grin. He pointed behind his silver haired companion, who quirked an eyebrow.

"Ahem."

Riku turned around to see Kairi already seated comfortably. He was dumbfounded. "Kairi? When did you…?"

"It was the first button I hit," replied Sora. "It just takes a while to kick in." Satisfied with the explanation, Riku nodded.

"Here, I brought towels for you," Kairi said extending a blue towel to Riku. He took it appreciatively and commenced drying off his body. Kairi then tossed a red one to Sora, who caught it and wrapped it around his head like a turban. Kairi giggled at the sight.

"Trying to become a citizen of Agrabah, Sora?" Riku joked sarcastically.

"Nope, just a salesman," smirked Sora. He remembered the greedy vendor he, Donald, and Goofy had encountered during their last visit to Agrabah. Good thing Genie was such an expert at reconstruction or else the town would have never recovered from Jafar's attack. To think the big blue guy wanted to add some swimming pools too. Sora had to admit a pool would've helped with the scorching heat, though.

"Oh, so you're a salesman now? What, Keyblade master isn't enough for you?" Riku continued to joke.

Kairi feigned counting her munny. "Whatever you're selling, I hope it's cheap," she said thoughtfully.

With a triumphant grin, Sora dramatically raised his index finger to the air. "The next item up for sale is a grand vacation to Disney Castle," he announced. "Lucky for you guys, your tickets are already paid for." With that last statement, Sora swung his finger around once in the air and then brought it crashing down on a final button.

"Here we go!" Sora flung himself into the pilot's seat. Reaching out an arm, he yanked Riku down into the seat next to him. "Make sure to buckle your seatbelts, guys," he said eyeing both his friends. The Gummi Ship then lurched forward, sluggishly ascending higher into the sky. The engines ceased their rhythmic low humming and kicked into full gear. Widespread flames shot out of the engines as the Gummi Ship blasted off into the atmosphere.

Sora and his friends once again found themselves leaving behind Destiny Islands. However, this time, they were together.

* * *

**Notes:** I sincerely hope I wasn't too off base with their personas. Personally, I find it a lot easier to write for Sora. Tried my best, though. Best part is they're major characters within this story, so that means I'll get lots of practice with 'em.


	5. Chapter 5: Touring Disney Town

**Notes:** This chapter took a while to write. I wanted to make sure it was the best I could make it. The chapter is filled with a lot of Disney references. It was fun to do, but at the same time very difficult to keep canon. Every character mentioned in this chapter is from Disney one way or another.

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Touring Disney Town  
**

The Gummi Ship arrived at the Disney Castle hangar where it was automatically hauled in by the computerized tractor beams. The engines sputtered out a lower flame and then ceased altogether when the hangar doors slammed shut. A large, white gloved mechanical hand extended down from the ceiling and touched down on the cockpit. Its fingers taking an ample grip, the hand began revolving counterclockwise, effectively unscrewing the cockpit from the fuselage with a loud pop. The gears then reversed and reeled the hand upwards and away from the ship.

Still clutching the cockpit block firmly, the hand lowered gently to the ground and ceased its motion. Sora and his friends stepped foot into the hangar. It consisted of wall-to-wall copper gears of various sizes all turning gradually. Several yellow pipelines circumference the room, some blowing out steam while others sorted out an array of colored gummi blocks.

"So this is Disney Castle…" commented Kairi. She and Riku gazed around the area.

"Well, not exactly," replied Sora. "This is just the Gummi hangar. The actual castle's outside, past the courtyard." Before he could go into further details, he heard his name shouted from above.

"Sora!"

Sora looked up to the Gummi command post suspended high above the rest of the hangar. Two little chipmunks wearing yellow aprons were jumping up and down ecstatically. They had light brown fur and appeared virtually identical save for their color of their noses and the arrangement of their teeth. One had a black nose while the other had a bright, red nose with two little bucked teeth sticking out of his moth. Sora waved to them and called out, "Hey, there, Chip and Dale!"

"We're glad that you made it! King Mickey needs to see you right away!" exclaimed the black-nosed chipmunk.

"Huh? Is something wrong, Chip?" asked Sora.

"No time to explain! Just hurry to the King's study!"

Sora looked over to Riku in Kairi who were just as confused as he was. He shrugged and waved his hand signaling his friends to follow. "Sorry, guys. Looks like the grand tour will have to wait. C'mon! The King's study is this way." Sora bolted up the staircase with Riku and Kairi following close behind.

They reached the King's study and opened the door to find King Mickey pacing around in circles by the bookshelf on the far end. His hands were held tightly behind his back and his head was tilted downwards in deep thought.

Sora motioned his hand forward. "Um… your Majesty?"

"Ack!" Startled, the King jumped. "Gosh, guys! I-I'm sorry. I didn't see ya there!" He waved his arms frantically in an apologetic gesture and then approached the trio. "Welcome to Disney Castle, Sora, Riku, Kairi," he greeted.

"Is there a problem, your Majesty?" inquired Sora. "Chip and Dale urged us here in a panic."

"Does it have anything to do with Pluto?" questioned Kairi, her fears resurfacing. "You mentioned him in your letter."

"Well, guys, it's like this: About a week ago Pluto wandered into town during the night and started howling something fierce. He woke up practically everyone. I went and fetched him back to the castle, and gave him a proper lecture. Thinking that was the end of it, I went back to bed. The occurrence repeated itself three more times, and by then, I was determined to find out what was wrong. I pushed aside a few of my duties in order to focus mainly on Pluto.

"Being king isn't easy. I've had a lot of work to do since the Kingdom Hearts incident. Pluto's howling was the last thing on my mind, you see." Mickey slumped his shoulders. "I-I should've paid more attention to him… He's been missing for two days now. I've sent Donald and Goofy to investigate the town again but they haven't reported back yet."

"You've sent them more than once?"

"Yes, Sora." Mickey sighed. "I myself have checked the town as well. Twice, in fact…"

"Wait a minute," interrupted Riku. "This isn't just about Pluto, is it?"

"Gosh, Riku. Was it that easy to see?" he asked peering up wearily.

"Huh?" Sora looked from Riku to the King in confusion. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

"It's simple," Riku stated. "Pluto's been acting weird for the past week and now he's vanished. The King's ordered Donald and Goofy to periodically patrol the town. Obviously, something's affecting the entire world—and that something is most likely behind Pluto's disappearance."

"Oh, I get it! Pluto's barking kept the townspeople on alert!" added Kairi.

"Right," affirmed Riku. "Someone's planning something and Pluto proved a hindrance."

Mickey nodded his head in approval. "That's exactly what I believe to be true, Riku. "

"So is that why you sent for us, your Majesty?" questioned Sora. "You want us to help solve this problem before the ball?"

"Yes, Sora. Your help would be much appreciated. I figured since I was planning on inviting you guys anyway, I could at least ask for your assistance. A week before the ball should be enough to stop that no-good-doer in his tracks!"

"Well, I don't mind at all. I'd be happy to help!"

"Me too! I'll help in any way that I can," added Kairi.

Riku furrowed his brow and hummed in accordance.

Mickey nodded. "Thanks, guys. Okay, let's get to work!" Having stopped pacing, Mickey ventured to his desk. He pulled a drawer open and yanked out a scroll. "This is a map of town," he said sprawling the scroll onto the desk. "We're each going to cover a different section of town. Combined with Donald and Goofy's aid, we'll be able to cover a lot of ground in a shorter amount of time. It's more efficient this way," he chuckled lightly. Sora, Riku, and Kairi all nodded in agreement.

"Sora, you'll search Main Street. It's on the farthest end of town, bordering Disney Square."

"Roger!"

"On the subject of Disney Square, it's all yours, Riku."

"I'm on it."

"Kairi, I'd like you to search the World Bazaar. It's right outside the castle gates. You can't miss it."

"Right."

"As for me, I'll check out MGM Avenue." Mickey scrolled up the map and placed it back in his desk. Withdrawing his hand he produced three smaller maps and held them up for the three friends. "Here ya go, guys. Just in case ya get lost." The three each took a map.

Sora unfolded his map and read over it. Aside from a detailed depiction of all the roads and streets in town, the sides of the map were littered with block after block of ads and detailed descriptions of prime dining locations. "Hmm… Eat at Joe's…?" he read raising an eyebrow.

Embarrassed, Mickey chuckled. "Ha, ha. Commercial maps," he shrugged and shook his head. "What're ya gonna do?"

After sharing a good laugh over the heavily advertised Joe's (which by the way bought out several ads promoting its café, five star restaurant, fast food joint, diner, gift shop, and water park), the four companions parted ways at the gate leading to the Disney town.

"Remember, everyone: we're looking for anything out of the ordinary. If something just doesn't fit quite right in the picture, chances are it doesn't belong," Mickey advised. "Okay, we'll meet back at the castle when the clock in the square strikes ten. Best of luck to ya!" With that, the King went off to search his designated area.

"Well, I'll catch you guys later," coolly said Riku as he started wandering into town. "Oh, by the way…" he began over his shoulder, "Whoever finds the disturbance first, wins." With that Riku flew into a mad dash for Disney Square, his laughter echoing back to Sora.

"Hey! No fair!" Sora exclaimed. He launched himself into a quick jog. Swerving around as to jog backwards, he waved at Kairi. "See you later!" he called, flashing a brilliant smile. Sora swung back around and picked up his pace.

Kairi chuckled to herself and shook her head. "Those two…" She sighed and then pressed forward into the town.

The World Bazaar was, as the king had said, directly outside the castle walls. Upon entering the town, Kairi was greeted by an eye-catching billboard advertising the World Bazaar branch of the Joe's franchise. "If anything's suspicious here, it's Joe's…" she thought.

"Huh? Is that Kairi?" Kairi turned around at the mention of her name. "It is! Hiya, Kairi!"

Kairi smile broadly and waved. "Goofy! Donald! Hi!" The dog and duck duo rushed down the street towards their redheaded friend.

"Ahyuck! Fancy meetin' ya here!" said Goofy having reached his destination.

"Hiya, toots!" Donald said, taking of his hat and bowing as he did so.

"It's great to see you again," smiled Kairi. She stretched her arms out wide and gave them both a warm hug, which they returned.

"So what brings ya out here this fine evening?" Goofy inquired. Kairi explained how she, Riku, and Sora had received the King's letter of invitation and how he had also requested their aid in searching for Pluto. "Gawrsh, is that so? We're glad to have ya!"

"With you three here, we'll be able to solve this problem in no time!" added Donald.

"Say, speakin' of Sora and Riku, where are they?" said Goofy scratching his head.

"They're investigating different parts of the town," explained Kairi. "The King had asked me to check out the World Bazaar."

Goofy snapped his fingers. "Hey, I know! How 'bout Donald and I help ya out?" Goofy offered.

"Yeah! The World Bazaar could always use another search," added Donald.

"Thanks, you two. We'll all search together," replied Kairi. Donald and Goofy both saluted. Kairi giggled lightly at the sight.

"Okay then! Off we go!" exclaimed Goofy. He and Donald led the way down the street.

The World Bazaar was riddled with an assortment of shops spanning from clothing stores to Joe's eateries to shopping malls and to more Joe's eateries. The sidewalks were lined with lampposts crafted in the King's signature image and were cluttered with store advertisements, addresses, and numbers. There were hawkers standing outside almost every shop, pitching out the latest sales and newest merchandise. The shops themselves were decorated heavily with bright, flashing neon lights. If those lights weren't enough, several stores held live musical performances on their rooftops—the musicians singing store brand jingles and counting off low-item prices. Some even went so far as to set off periodic firework displays which spelled out their store names and deals in the sky—anything to get a prospective customer's attention.

Kairi stopped walking momentarily and turned to Donald and Goofy. "This is a really nice town and all, but why are there so many chain stores and advertisements?" she asked concerned. "From Sora's stories, Disney Castle really didn't strike me as such a commercial place. Albeit he never mentioned going into town, I could just tell from the atmosphere he described while visiting the castle."

"Well, it didn't always used to be like this," said Goofy, his head slightly sinking.

"Yeah. Since the King was away fighting the Heartless and Nobodies, a bunch of dirty, rotten contractors came into town and took over the place!" huffed Donald.

"His Majesty's been tryin' ta get things back to normal, but now that Pluto's gone…" Goofy sighed, now hunching his shoulders.

"I see…" said Kairi.

"That's also why it's taking us so long ta find Pluto!" Goofy added. "We barely recognize this place anymore…"

"That's terrible—not being able to recognize your own home."

"You said it, toots…"

"What will you do?" Kairi questioned.

Goofy put his index finger to his chin and rolled his eyes upwards. "Well," he began, "first thing's first. We're gonna find Pluto! King Mickey hasn't been able to think straight with his best pal missin'! He's been worried sick and missin' out on sleepin'."

"Yeah," affirmed Donald, shaking his head. "It won't do us any good if the King can't concentrate. Once Pluto comes home, we'll think of a plan." He pulled out his staff and laughed devilishly, adding, "But until then, I can just shock every crooked businessman I see."

"Hmm." Kairi nodded, but not in agreement with Donald's last comment. "All right, then! Let's find Pluto!"

* * *

On the other side of town, Riku searched every nook and cranny of Disney Square. The square was lined with various shops, a single pub, and a handful of eateries. Out of the entire town, it was the least commercialized. Standing about a couple dozen feet tall in the very center was a solid marble clock tower. It had a clock face on all four sides, each embossed in gold. At the very peak of the tower was a symbol paying homage to the King. A colorful array of flowers was planted around the tower in a ring formation, parting only to form four walkways.

Riku leaned casually against the tower with his arms folded. He observed pedestrians with care, noting their characteristics and occasionally overhearing a conversation or two. Currently, he strained his ears listening intently on the conversation on the adjacent side of the tower. Two hens were busily clucking and gossiping to one-another, completely unawares of Riku's presence on the other side. Normally, Riku wouldn't pay such foolishness any mind. However, one of the hens mentioned an interesting piece of information that immediately caught his attention.

"It's true! I heard barking drives him up a wall!" exclaimed one hen.

"Well, I can understand that. I myself would go insane if I had a dog relentlessly followed me all around town, barking and howling at every little thing! But to _eat_ every dog that barks at him? Now that's too farfetched even for me!" replied the other.

"You have to factor in the fact that he's a bad egg to begin with, if you know what I mean." The two hens chuckled at this remark.

Frowning deeply, Riku pondered over this newly acquired information. He wished the hens would provide him with at least a name or an address. A little more back-story couldn't hurt, either. A person who went around kidnapping rowdy dogs in order to dine on them wasn't exactly the most convincing story.

"Oh, my! So _you_ like to eavesdrop too?!" came a voice so loud that it alerted the hens to Riku's presence. They peered around the corner, huffed in annoyance, and left in unison muttering things like "How rude!" and "Some people!"

Riku turned to the source of the boisterous voice, slightly stunned and embarrassed. Standing next to him with a big, devious grin was a rather tall black cow in a purple dress. She held what appeared to be a notebook in one hand and a black fountain pen in the other.

"Who are you?" asked Riku, irritated that this cow had both interrupted his thoughts and lost his only source of information.

"Clarabelle Cow's the name, hun," she said, still grinning. "And who might _you_ be, handsome? I don't think I've ever seen you around before, and I know _everyone_ in this town!"

"I'm no one of interest to you," he replied curtly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going." He pushed himself off the tower shoving his hands in his pockets, and turned to the opposite direction of Clarabelle.

"Oh? Where to?" Clarabelle asked with a shine in her eyes.

"None of your business." Riku replied over his shoulder. He continued walking when the cow abruptly blocked his path. Riku tried to side step her to no avail. She mirrored his every move, effectively cutting off all escape routes. "You mind moving?" he seethed.

"Not until you and I sit down for an interview!" she exclaimed. "You have a face that just _screams_ dark past, haunting memories, and great, regrettable losses!"

"I think I'll pass," Riku replied, shoving the cow to the side. The last thing he wanted to do was conjure up old memories best left forgotten.

"Nobody says 'no' to the greatest gossip columnist in the Disney Kingdom!" Clarabelle persisted. "I even have my own book, which I just _happen_ to have a copy of right here!" She clipped her pen into the notebook and using her newly freed hand, yanked out a second book from behind her back.

The book was a hardcover copy, with Clarabelle's devilishly smiling face stretching all across the cover. The title read _The Best Gossip: Disney Kingdom Edition_ with a small caption underneath saying: "Gossip is always true." Clarabelle shoved the book in Riku's face and bragged. "See? It's won the Golden Mickey award _and_ received honorable mentions in last month's Best Sellers Monthly!"

Riku rolled his eyes in response.

"Oh, come on! You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." Great, now she was trying to _bribe_ Riku into spilling his secrets.

"Listen, unless you have solid, _factual_ information on the whereabouts of a missing dog, would you mind getting out of my way?"

Clarabelle's eyes lit up. "Missing dog, you say? Why I just happen to have a juicy tidbit on missing dogs!"

"Factual," repeated Riku.

"Why of _course_ it's factual!" asserted Clarabelle. "Just who do you think I am?" Riku refrained from answering that question, knowing it would most likely cost him his ears.

"Is that so? Well, let's have it, then."

"I'll only tell you if you agree to my interview," declared Clarabelle. She tapped her pen absently on her notebook.

Riku hesitated slightly but finally gave in. Any lead was worth a shot. "Fine." She wants an interview? Oh, she'll get an interview, all right!

"Great!" Clarabelle grabbed Riku's arm and led him to one of the benches lining the clock tower. "So, what's your name?" she asked, situating herself on the bench.

Riku smirked mischievously. "Sora."

After Clarabelle finished her interrogation seemingly hours later, she shut her book happily. "I can't believe _I_ managed to get the inside scoop on _the_ Keyblade master! This deserves it's own novel! I'll win the Golden Crown for _sure_ this year!"

"Great," Riku sighed. "Are you finished now?"

"I sure am!" she boasted cheerfully. "And now for _your_ information." She reached behind her back and pulled out a folded newspaper, all the while Riku wondered how she was able to miraculously pull things from behind her back. Where did all that stuff come from? "Here you go, Sora! This should help!" Riku forced back a fit of laughter while taking the newspaper.

Riku glanced over the paper and then looked up at Clarabelle. "This is a real newspaper," he stated mildly amused.

"Well of course it is!" exclaimed Clarabelle, throwing up her arms in irritation. "Every good gossiper knows that the best place to start looking for gossip is the newspaper!"

Nodding his head, Riku continued reading. Not even a minute later, he shot up suddenly from his seat, startling Clarabelle in the process. He tossed the paper back at the cow and bolted off without another word.

Clarabelle shook her head. Opening her notebook, she jotted down another few lines. "This is going to be my juiciest piece of gossip yet!"

* * *

Over at Main Street, Sora wandered down the streets eyeing the many passers-by carefully. He had yet to find anything out of the ordinary or anyone acting in a particularly suspicious manner. The closest thing bordering suspicion was a street jazz session between the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. In his childhood, Sora had always heard stories that the wolf was trying to eat the pigs. He never fathomed the idea of actually tapping his toes and clapping his hands to their catchy jazz melody.

Reaching into the red pouch at his side, Sora produced the pocket-sized map. "Let's see… I'm here, right next to the Seven Dwarfs All Night Pub," Sora pointed his index finger on the map and absently traced a circle around his location. "I've already been down the street by Madam Mim's Magicks and crossed the bridge over the Blue Lagoon twice." Sora placed his fingers thoughtfully to his chin. "Hmm… That leaves the street corner by the Aracuan International House of Tomfoolery. Guess I'll head that way."

Sora folded the map back into his pouch and trekked further up the street past yet another Joe's Diner. "You know, seeing all these restaurants is making me kind of hungry…" he said rubbing his stomach.

"Did someone say '_hungry?!_'"

A weasel wearing a pinstripe business suit and a fedora jumped in front of Sora. "Huh? Who are you?"

"The name's Smarty Weasel," the weasel replied, shaking Sora's hand fervently.

"What do you want?" asked Sora, abruptly taking back his hand. He eyed the weasel warily.

"I couldn't help but hear your passionate cries for a delectable morsel!"

"But all I said—"

"Exactly. You said you wanted some of my sea-salt ice cream," Smarty interjected.

"Huh? Sea-salt ice cream…?" Sora was now somewhat interested.

"Yup! For a mere 10 munny, you'll get twice as much sea-salt ice cream as you would at any of Joe's joints!"

"I don't know…" said Sora a bit skeptical. What self-respecting businessman would only want 10 munny for ice cream? It usually went for at least 50 munny in Sora's experience.

"Oh, come on! It's delicious!" pressured the weasel. "Every kid loves sea-salt ice cream, am I right? Especially the cheap kind!" Without waiting for Sora's reply, Smarty hollered out to his cohorts. "Greasy! Psycho! Get over here! We've got a live one!"

Sora frowned. "_Greasy psycho…?_"

Two more weasels veered over to Sora, pushing along a cart of what he could only assume contained the ice cream. One weasel wore an unbuckled straightjacket while the other was dressed in attire similar to Smarty's, albeit the fedora was replaced with a bowler derby.

"Ya called, boss?" asked the bowler-topped weasel.

"Yeah, Greasy. Let's fix this schmuck up," said Smarty pointing a thumb at Sora, who was becoming very uncomfortable with the situation.

The weasel in the straightjacket jumped up and down cackling with a laughter rivaling that Ed's, the crazy hyena Sora had encounter at the Pride Lands.

"Psycho, pipe down, will ya?" shouted Greasy. "I can barely hear myself think!" He slapped the crazy weasel on the head. Seemingly devoid of any pain whatsoever, the weasel continued his shrilling laughter.

"You know, these guys are awfully suspicious…" Sora thought. Perhaps the weasels had something to do with Pluto's disappearance? Sora dissolved his immediate instinct of bolting clear down the street and decided to interrogate the weasels.

"So, will you be paying with cash or credit, sir?" inquired Smarty. He eagerly rubbed his hands together and practically drooled at the thought of money.

"Uh, I don't think I want any ice cream. I just—"

"Of course ya want ice cream!" interjected Greasy. "No kid on 'dis planet wouldn't pick ice cream over a set of nasty bruises!" He rolled up his sleeves and started pounding his fists together.

Sora gulped. These guys were _definitely_ shady.

Smarty shoved Greasy to the side and bonked him on the head. "What he means is, we're running a _charity_."

Sora quirked an eyebrow. "Charity?"

"Yeah!" Smarty grabbed hold of Psycho, who was now drooling obsessively all over the place. "See, the munny we get goes ta helpin' people like Psycho, here. Ya know, the one's who've been _bruised_ one too many times in the head." Sora was still not convinced. "C'mon! Do ya really have the heart to deny poor Psycho here the funding for treatment?"

Sighing, Sora finally gave in. Psycho really did seem in desperate need of well-funded therapy. "Okay, okay. But on one condition."

"If it's tips on getting' outta the slammer, youz outta luck," said Greasy, which earned him another whack to the head.

"Err… no. I just wanted to know if you've seen or heard anything about a yellowish-gold dog, with floppy, long ears and a green color," Sora explained.

"We don't know nothin' about no dogs," said Smarty. "We're just ice cream guys, ya know?"

"Are you sure?" Sora pressed.

"If we don't know, we don't know!" barked Greasy. "Capisce?"

"Okay…" replied Sora, still wary of the weasels. Judging by their reactions to the question, they didn't seem to be hiding anything, but something was still a little off with these guys.

"Now, about that munny!" Smarty clapped his hands together in anticipation.

"Right, right…" Sora reached into his pocket and produced a small, green pouch. Before he could open it, however, it was yanked out of his hands. "Hey!"

Sora tried to make a grab for his pouch, but was showered with a bucket of ice cubes. "There's yer ice!" cackled Greasy, replacing the empty bucket into the cart.

Recovered from the cold shock, Sora grit his teeth and motioned to charge at the weasels. No sooner had he grabbed hold of Smarty's arm when he was blinded by a splash of white cream. "And there's yer cream!"

"Hey! Get back here!" Sora exclaimed, wiping the cream from his eyes. He caught a glimpse of the weasels hightailing it out of there.

"Don't forget the sea salt!" snorted Smarty. Still running, he turned around and flicked some salt at Sora.

"Those thieves!" Sora followed in hot pursuit of the con artists. The weasels tried to duck and hide within the oncoming passers-by, but Sora managed to keep hot on the heels. They dashed all around Main Street until finally the weasels turned sharply at a corner. When Sora followed, he caught the sight of the weasels tripping over a bent-over duck, which sent them flying into a lamppost. All three collapsed unconscious on the sidewalk. "Aha! Got ya!" boasted Sora, finally catching up.

"Aye, and I've got ye as well," said a voice with a thick Irish accent. Sora turned around and saw a rather plump bulldog in a police uniform holding a donut in his hand. "Ye weasels will be put behind bars for a long time."

"Who are you?" asked Sora.

"The name's O'Hara, lad. Chief O'Hara, that is," he replied polishing off his badge. Tossing the donut over his shoulder, he reached down and yanked the weasels up by their collars. "And who might ye be?" he asked Sora.

"I'm Sora."

"Sora, ye say? That name sounds a wee bit familiar…" The chief thought for a moment. "Ah, yes! Sora! The King's mentioned ye."

"He has?"

O'Hara nodded. "Aye, that he has. Ye be a friend of justice, much like a good cop."

Sora chuckled. "Sounds about right."

"What brings ye here, Sora?"

"Those weasels swindled me out of my munny!" Sora exclaimed flailing a finger at the knocked-out trio.

O'Hara glared at the weasels. "Did they now?" He shook them violently until everything in their possession fell to the curb, including Sora's munny pouch. He reached down and picked it off the ground.

"Thanks!" he said, placing it back securely in his pocket.

"Don't mention it," replied the chief. He turned slightly and began to walk down the street. "Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking these three down to the station. Good day to ye."

Sora waved bye to the chief and then turned his attention to the unconscious duck on the sidewalk. Kneeling down beside him, Sora tried to shake the duck awake. "Hey, are you okay?"

The duck lazily opened his eyes. He blinked a few times and then stretched out his arms with a deep yawn. "Well, that solves my nap problem," said the duck. "I've been trying to take a nap for hours but I just couldn't close my eyes!" he explained to Sora who held a perplexed gaze.

The duck got to his feet and brushed his bright green suit clean. "Gladstone," he said, turning to Sora.

"Excuse me?"

"Gladstone Gander, in the feathers," he clarified. He then ran a hand through his brilliant golden locks and smiled suavely.

"Oh, that's your name!" Sora smiled sheepishly. "I'm Sora."

Gladstone nodded and tilted his head to the ground. "That's great, now where's my hat?" Scanning the sidewalk he jumped slightly in delight. "Ah, what a lucky day!" Gladstone reached over and picked up an upside-down blue hat from the ground. He reached in and yanked out a donut. "This will do nicely for a snack!" He gobbled it up in a single bite and rubbed his stomach satisfactorily. "Delicious!"

"Um, so Gladstone…" Sora began, but the duck paid him no mind.

Ignoring Sora, Gladstone returned his gaze to the ground once more. "Now where'd my cane get to…?"

"Your cane is missing? I'll help you look for it," Sora offered.

"Nah, it's too much work," Gladstone sighed.

"Huh? So you're just going to give up?" inquired Sora in disbelief.

"If it's not here, it's not here," Gladstone replied. He gave one more glance around the street. Failing to locate the cane, he simply shrugged. "Oh well. I'll just hope I can find a new one."

As if on cue, a large, black limousine pulled over to the side where Gladstone and Sora were standing. A tinted window rolled down and a woman duck with grey hair and a monocle over her left eye peered out. "I say, young man!" she called out to Gladstone. "You look like the spitting image of my husband in his prime, who regretfully left this world not a fortnight ago." Sora heard rustling as the woman fidgeted around trying to locate something. The woman produced a solid gold cane topped with a rather large diamond and extended it out to Gladstone. Sora couldn't believe his eyes. "This used to belong to my dear husband, but I have no use for it. I am bestowing it upon you, whose looks are uncanny!"

"Why, thank you, ma'am," said Gladstone. He took the cane and proceeded to lean on it. "I'll take good care of it."

The woman nodded. "See that you do." She rolled up her window and the limousine pulled away and left.

"Wow, Gladstone! That was really lucky!" Sora exclaimed. "That's a solid gold cane!"

"Yes, yes it is," replied Gladstone absently. He busied himself with polishing the diamond on his new cane to a perfect shine. "You know," he said offhandedly. "That donut from earlier made me mighty thirsty."

"Oh yeah? Want to grab something to drink?" offered Sora.

Before Gladstone could answer, a man rushed up the street making a beeline for them. "Hey!" he called out. "Hey, you two!" As he came closer, Sora could see the man was rather plump, dressed in what appeared to be a Joe's uniform. He was hauling a rather large crate in his large, burly arms. "How would you like to try a free sample of the new Joe's Cola?" asked the man, setting down the crate.

Gladstone reached for a bottle. "Don't mind if I do!" he said uncorking the bottle and downing its contents in a single gulp. Sora just couldn't believe this duck's luck!

"And you, kid?" the man said to Sora, who merely shook his head no. "Well, okay." The man lifted the crate back into his arms and turned to leave. "Remember to stop by Joe's! See ya!" he called over his shoulder.

"You really are a lucky duck!" Sora exclaimed.

Gladstone flashed a suave smile and chuckled. "Well, what can I say? The Goddess of Fortune watches over me."

"I believe it."

"So, Sora, what brings you here?" Gladstone finally ventured to ask.

Sora explained his situation but wasn't sure if Gladstone was paying any attention. The duck kept glancing around the street, picking up spare change from the sidewalk every few seconds.

"Hmm… missing pup and town disturbances, you say?" replied Gladstone after Sora had finished his tale.

"Yeah. I've looked everywhere but I can't find any clues."

Gladstone pocketed his change and looked up at Sora. "Maybe I can help."

"How?" questioned Sora. Sure Gladstone was lucky, but Sora knew the duck was no detective. He didn't even bother searching for his lost cane and he's going to help search for a lost dog?

Suddenly, a mighty gust of wind blew in. The litter lying on the street was disturbed and took off into the air. Papers, bags, and foam cups went flying. A newspaper had smacked itself into Gladstone's face just as the wind died down. The duck plucked the paper from his beak and gave it the once-over. Smiling, he forked it over to Sora, who accepted it with a puzzled stare.

"Like this," Gladstone replied. "Oh, and, you're welcome." With that, the duck walked off, twirling his cane in his hand and humming a little tune.

"Huh…?" Sora gazed off after the duck in shear bewilderment until he disappeared from view. Sora then dropped his eyes down and focused on the newspaper in his hand. The paper itself was a two-week old edition of the Disney Times and had several sections missing. Sora scanned the contents and immediately noticed a small article that had been circled in red. The article read as follows:

_**Mad Scientist Under House Arrest**_

_Many remember the mad scientist who experimented with the grafting of chicken gizzards into dogs not too long ago. Dr. Frankenollie was detained for questioning shortly after he was caught hauling a sack of stray dogs through Main Street. The doctor was released with a strict warning, but it seems he's been up to his old tricks again, this time involving a recent grave-robbing outbreak. Chief O'Hara has prohibited Dr. Frankenollie from stepping one foot outside his house, which is isolated on the farthest edge of town, for the next six months. Until further investigations of his experiments can be conducted, the town should be safe from Frankenollie's inane experiments._

Sora clenched the paper in his fist. "This guy _definitely_ sounds suspicious!" He chucked the paper over his shoulder and started for Dr. Frankenollie's house.

* * *

**End notes:** Yes, Dr. Frankenollie _is_ a Disney character. He's from the Disney short "Runaway Brain." Some of you may remember this cartoon if you saw _A Goofy Movie_ in theaters. It played right before the feature film.

This chapter was mostly on the comedic side. The story will grow steadily darker from hereon out, though. This will most likely be the last strictly goofy chapter for a long while. That's not to say I won't throw comedy into any other chapters, however.

Early cartoons always featured some sort of "Eat at Joe's" gag, so I thought I'd do the same.


	6. Chapter 6: The Doctor is In

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Doctor is In...sane  
**

Sora slid to a stop in front of an old, decrepit house at the outskirts of town. Its foundation lay high atop a curling mountain, overlooking the bustling town below. Dark, stormy clouds loomed high above the pointed rooftop. A howling wind brushed against the bare, decaying trees surrounding the property. Rows upon rows of crows rimmed the tree branches and house gutters. Their piercing white eyes flashed down as they cawed noisily at their new guest ventured to the double door entrance.

Several streaks of lightning flashed in the sky, illuminating the skull and crossbones doorknocker. The door handles located just below were unnaturally curved and rusted. A single doorbell was present behind a thick layer of moss, its springs and coils visible.

Another flash of lightning raged through the skies, this time accompanied by a heavy roar of thunder. The crows were disturbed from their perches. Cawing and screeching louder than before, they fluttered into the sky, swarming around in nauseating circles.

"So, it looks like we had the same idea."

Sora nearly stumbled over in shock. He swung around apprehensively, only to relax at the sight before him. "Riku!"

The silver-haired youth casually positioned himself next to his friend. He smirked at Sora's reaction. "Did I scare you?"

Sora frowned and Riku took that as a "yes."

"Well? Are you just going to stand there all day?"

Straightening his face, Sora shook his head. Grasping one of the knockers in his hand, he firmly pounded it against the door.

No answer.

Sora reached to repeat the motion but his hand fell short of the door. The welcome mat had collapsed and Sora dropped down into a tube. His decent was halted, however, by the firm grasp on his wrist.

"I've got you!" exclaimed Riku through gritted teeth.

"But who's got you?" cackled an ominous voice.

High-powered suctioning forces sprung from the tube, drawing both boys deep underground. They fell into a dungeon-like area, collapsing into two bolted down wooden seats resembling electric chairs. Iron cuffs latched around their arms, bolting them securely to the armrests.

"Hey! What's going on?" cried Sora. He tried to wriggle his hands free from their constraints but jolted suddenly upright in pain. "Ouch!" Something had plucked several of his spiky hairs. His wrists instinctively motioned to grab his sore head, but were halted by the cold iron.

"Sora, what's—Hey!" Riku winced as a hand tugged at his long, silver hair, pulling out several strands in the process.

"Mwuaha… Yes! These'll do just nicely…" mused a voice from above. A monkey in a lab coat with a light bulb on his head swung down and in front of the two captives, holding strands of hair in either of his rubber-gloved hands. "Just think of the possibilities!" he added.

"Who are you?" asked Sora. "And why did you yank out my hair?"

The monkey flatly ignored Sora's questions. He sauntered over to a long, wooden table with dozens of flasks and beakers were strewn out, each filled with multi-colored liquids. Muttering incoherently under his breath with a few added chuckles, he placed the hairs on two different Petri dishes. His chuckles soon broke out to full-fledged laughter as he held up a dark purple solution and set it atop a Bunsen burner.

"What's so funny?" demanded Sora. He again struggled in vain to free himself from the chair.

"So, you're Dr. Frankenollie I gather," Riku finally spoke up, his aqua eyes coolly training the monkey's every step.

Sora shot Riku a bewildered look. "Huh? _That's_ Dr. Frankenollie?"

"Were you expecting a tall, menacing man with a long black beard, perhaps?" chuckled the monkey over his shoulder.

"Well… Now that you've mentioned it, that's kind of what I always pictured a mad scientist would look like," Sora admitted.

"Sora, this isn't an old cartoon," sighed Riku.

Sora huffed in response. "Well, anyway, let us go! Why did you strap us in these chairs?"

Dr. Frankenollie paused for a moment, jotting down notes on a clipboard. He then looked up and around at Sora. "How _else_ am I going to swap your brains?" he replied as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"What?! Swap our brains?!" Sora all but screamed.

"Why would you want to do that?" Riku asked displaying calmness on the outside, but his nerves were eating away at his stomach.

Tossing his papers in the air, Frankenollie laughed hysterically. "Who wouldn't want the opportunity to experiment on the legendary Keyblade master?" he chortled.

"How did you—" Sora was cut off by Frankenollie's hand gripped firmly around his mouth.

"Boy, did anyone ever tell you that you ask too many ridiculously obvious questions?" asked the doctor with a sinister glint in his eye. He pulled a piece a parchment from out of his coat pocket and shoved it in Sora's face. Sora's eyes widened as he read over the contents. "See this? Mwuaha…yes… _This_ entails one of the greatest experiments ever known—an experiment that _I_ will be the first to conduct!"

Frankenollie reclaimed his hand and rolled up the parchment, all the while laughing maniacally. His mouth now free, all Sora could do was leave his jaw hanging wide open.

"Sora… What is it?" asked Riku concerned. "What does the parchment say?"

"It's…" Sora struggled to find his voice. "…It's… an _Ansem report!_"

"What?!" Riku shot his eyes back to the raving lunatic of a doctor. "You! Where did you get your primitive opposable thumbs on one of Ansem's reports?" The doctor continued to cackle. "Answer me!"

"You'd be… surprised what you'd find… in the deepest levels of… the castle," he replied between snorts and cackles. He recomposed himself and returned his attention to the now bubbling purplish liquid on the table.

"You broke into the castle?" exclaimed Sora, his eyes now flickering with flames of mixed anger and anxiety. The King had confiscated all of Ansem's reports and locked them deep within a vault on the lowest basement floor of the castle. Although Sora managed to collect bulks of Ansem's reports, King Mickey had compiled the remaining reports during his journey. The contents of those reports were kept secret, even from Sora. And now, Frankenollie had come in possession of some of the deadliest theories Ansem had managed to conjure during his days of Heartless experimentation.

"Oh, I did more than just break in!" boasted the deranged doctor, the light bulb on his head blinking wildly.

"Meaning…?" Riku didn't like the direction this conversation was headed. A sick feeling amassed itself within his stomach and refused to dissipate.

The doctor faced his captives with a sinister grin.

One look into the doctor's eyes at that moment and Sora's heart knew the answer. "No!" he cried. "You didn't!"

"Ah, so you understand, then?" asked the doctor somewhat amused.

"What? What?!" questioned Riku in a panic. He didn't understand at all.

"The Cornerstone of Light!" shouted Sora.

"The what…?" Riku was baffled. Should he know about this cornerstone?

"It's the only thing that keeps the darkness at bay within the castle!" Sora explained. "Darkness can never reach this place as long as the Cornerstone is brimming with light."

"But then… If darkness can't touch this place, how can it taint the Cornerstone?"

"Oh, no. _That_ would be telling!" chided the madman.

"Really? And here I thought scientists loved to brag about the process," goaded Riku.

Frankenollie thought for a moment and then jibed across to the silver-haired captive. "You really want to know about the process?" he asked with a devilish smirk.

Keeping his cool, Riku looked the doctor dead in the eye. "Do tell," he said coldly.

The doctor merely stared, completely fascinated by his subject's attitude. "Gwaha!" he snorted insanely. "I'll tell you this much, you find a lot of _fancy_ doors in the castle." He turned to wink at Sora as he stressed his point. "And you know what else? _Fancy_ doors and wires seething with darkness do wonders!" He slapped Riku on both cheeks, laughed, and ventured back to his lab station.

Riku turned to his comrade. "Sora… What did he mean by that?"

"The Timeless River," Sora explained. "It's a doorway to the past. Before Disney Castle was built, the Cornerstone of Light was left vulnerable."

"I see… So this guy went back in time and tampered with the Cornerstone." Riku glowered at the maniac monkey.

"But, I don't understand! I didn't sense any darkness when we came here!" exclaimed Sora.

Frankenollie mixed two solutions into a flask and shook it vigorously. "Hey!" he called over his shoulder, still shaking the contents. "You like _Joe's?_" He snickered ominously.

Sora's face went blank for a moment, contemplating the doctor's last statement. After a few seconds, Sora snapped back in shock. "You're the one responsible for the town's commercialism?" he asked in disbelief.

"What? Sora, that's crazy!" exclaimed Riku.

"Crazy, but true!" chimed the doctor in a singsong manner, the light bulb on his head blinking on and off. Having long ceased his business with the flask, he hopped over to a chalkboard. He erased an equation that had drawings of a dog and chicken separated by an addition sign. The equals sign was left blank. Picking up a fresh piece of chalk, he wildly scribbled down a string of mathematical equations.

"That makes no sense," commented Riku.

"It does if it's an experiment," replied Sora. "Think about it, Riku. Frankenollie just wanted to gauge the effect of whatever he did to the Cornerstone."

"Wow, kid," chuckled the doctor mockingly. "Ever think of quitting the Keyblade biz and putting on a white coat?"

Riku glared at the doctor. "What are you up to, Frankenollie?" he seethed.

"Well, first I'll toy around with your brains and I'll work my way down to your hearts," he stated quite contently. He said it in such a cheerful way that it made both Riku and Sora quite sick. He paused and thought for a moment, tapping the chalk absently on his lower lip. "Or maybe… Nah! I'll save those guys for last!" He snickered to himself and continued scratching eager notes onto the chalkboard.

"That's not what I mean," grunted Riku.

"Oh, oh! You mean in _retrospect_," the doctor mocked, enjoying experiment with Riku's anger. "Well, gee, haven't you read the news? I like to take chicken gizzards and stick them into animals that aren't chickens!"

Riku's eye twitched. "So you're planning to do that on a wide-scale?"

"Pfft…wahaha! No!" Dr. Frankenollie chucked his chalk at Riku's forehead. "What's _in there,_ anyway? I don't think I _can _switch your brains around if the only thing under your scalp is a jumble of cobwebs!"

Riku kept his cool. He wouldn't give the doctor the satisfaction of ruffling his feathers.

"Hey! You can't talk to Riku like that!" exclaimed Sora.

Pausing in his preparation of some sort of gel substance, Frankenollie started on another fit of choked laughter. "Wahaha! If you haven't noticed by now that I can say just about whatever I want, I have to question if the legendary warrior of light has any brains, either! Ha!"

"Why you…!" Sora grit his teeth.

"What, are you gonna teach me a lesson with your Keyblade," chided the doctor. "Oh, wait, that's right! You're kind of tied up at the moment." Another string of senseless laughter echoed through the dungeon.

"Frankenollie, if you keep this up, you'll get what's coming to you," replied an enraged Sora.

"Who fights with a _key_, anyway?" continued the madman. He tossed the gel onto a stack of papers and stuck his hand into his lab coat pocket. Withdrawing a key, he held it up high for his captives to see. He then took a few swings with it. "It's like taking my house key and going to war with it. Yeah, it takes insanity to a new level!" He pitched the key and hit Sora squarely between the eyes.

Sora grimaced. "Insanity can't reach a level beyond yours," he countered. He wished his hands were free so they could massage the new bruise on his forehead.

"Oh, touché!" Frankenollie wildly clapped his hands in mock appraisal. "Another great victory for the oh-so mighty Key bearer!" he taunted.

* * *

While Sora and Frankenollie took verbal jabs at each other, Riku surveyed the room with care. He noticed the many bones scattered about the floor. Various skeletal remnants littered a very large portion of the ground, some still clinging to tattered articles of clothing and other paraphernalia. Several steel cages were lined up along the walls, fit enough to house just about any animal of the local variety. Riku wondered if Pluto was being held captive here. Seeing the skeleton of a dog still stuck in its cage with nothing but the collar left, Riku pushed dreadful thoughts concerning his canine companion to the back of his mind. It was best to find a way to free himself and Sora first. If the doctor had so much as harmed a hair on Pluto's head, he'd pay through the nose.

Turning his attention completely the iron cuffs around his wrists, Riku tuned out the insults buzzing around him. The last thing he heard was Sora's rant about a three-headed monkey giving a big whoop or something to that extent. Riku didn't care. He focused all his attention to his restraints. He gently shook the right cuff. Nothing. It was firmly secure. Now for the left… No good. Both were clasped down securely. He had to find something to either jimmy his hand free or break the cuff altogether.

Several bats screeched from the ceiling, disrupting Riku's thoughts. Tilting his head upwards, he caught sight of the black rodents. Some were dangling upside down while others were fluttering about. The ceiling was lined with numerous pipes, perfect for bats to cling to. Riku wondered the purpose behind each pipe. He studied them each with care, noting the different twists in their pattern. He traced four of them to the doctor's lab station where multi-colored liquids trickled down into beakers. His eyes then fell on one particular pipe of interest. It was frozen over with icicles dangling all along its underside.

He traced the frozen pipe and saw that it ran conveniently close to his chair. An idea had struck. Returning his gaze to the bones littering the floor, Riku edged his foot gradually towards the closest femur. Falling a few inches short, Riku pulled back slightly and then lunged his leg forward again. His foot still fell short, though he did managed to get slightly closer. It's times like these Riku wished he had ridiculously large, bulbous shoes like Sora. Wait, no. Even periled by such a desperate moment, he'd rather steer clear of those shoes.

Before his third attempt, Riku glanced over to check the doctor's status. Dr. Frankenollie's attention was completely focused on Sora. The maniac monkey had proceeded to rhythmically slap his hands on Sora's head as if playing the bongos. All the while, he laughed maniacally at Sora's inability to retaliate. Riku grit his teeth at his friend's pain filled expression. With rekindled determination, Riku forced all his might into his right leg. Stretching to the point of tearing a muscle or two, Riku finally made contact with the bone. Beads of sweat trickling from his brow, he pressed firmly against the bone. Using the friction of his rubber sole, Riku steadily pulled the chunk of decaying calcium closer.

Finally, the bone rested between Riku's two feet. Using his two soles, he took up the bone and pressured it to snap in two. A jagged edge protruded from one of the newly created pieces. Satisfied at the results, Riku kicked the blunt piece out of the way in favor of the pointed one.

"I only have one chance," Riku thought. He took one last glimpse at the doctor, who was now drawing red dotted lines across Sora's forehead. Riku could only surmise they were incision markers. Gritting his teeth, he tilted his head back towards the pipe and mentally gauged the distance. Pushing the fractured bone forward a little with his foot, he aligned it with the pipe. Riku took a deep breath while closing his eyes and slowly exhaled. He shot open his eyes, and with a flick of his foot, sent the jagged bone flying with extreme force towards the frozen pipe.

The pipe was punctured instantly. A frosted mist shot out from the newly created hole and sprayed over Riku. Dr. Frankenollie immediately swerved his head around at the hissing noise protruding from the pipe.

"Oh no! The liquid nitrogen!" exclaimed the doctor. He flailed his arms wildly in the air and stumbled towards the pipe. He yanked out a roll of duct tape from his pocket and tore off a long piece.

With the doctor's attention occupied, Riku forced all his energy into his right arm. He rammed his arm hard into the now frozen cuff. It cracked under the pressure and smashed into millions of tiny fragments. Riku turned his attention to his other arm and repeated the process. He shot up and rushed to Sora.

"Riku!" Sora joyfully called out. He chuckled lightly.

Riku quirked an eyebrow. "What?" he asked, tending to the cuffs around his friend's wrists.

"Your eyebrows have frost in them," replied Sora smirking.

Riku smiled lightly. He unlatched both of Sora's restraints and then promptly brushed the frost off his brows. Sora hopped to his feet and nodded gratefully at Riku.

Having finally sealed the punctured pipe, Dr. Frankenollie turned around to face his captives, muttering something about bats and bones. "That's the last time I infuse a bat with carnivorous…" he trailed off as his eyes came to rest on the two boys with crossed arms before him. "Well, shucks."

"It's over, Dr. Frankenollie!" said Sora. "Now tell us—"

"Where's Pluto?" interjected Riku, his eyes firmly fixed on the doctor.

"Huh?" Sora glanced up at Riku, slightly confused.

"I know you have him," Riku continued, not breaking eye contact with the deranged doctor.

Frankenollie chucked the jagged bone over his shoulder and clapped his hands together. He grinned devilishly, his jagged, crooked teeth fully exposed. "So you _do_ have some brains after all…" he snickered, edging closer to the boys. "But I believe the term is _had him_. It's true, at one point, I had the King's mutt."

"What?!" exclaimed Sora. "What have you done with him?"

"Wasn't planning on taking the mutt hostage at first. I haven't touched a dog's innards for a while now. But every time I'd try to sneak to the castle, that dog would bark like crazy and follow me into town as I tried to flee. One night, I just up and snagged him. It's true I wanted to give him a chicken's gizzard, but…"

"Where is he?" pressured Riku with a menacing gaze.

The doctor's grin stretched out wildly. "Why, I do believe he has… _departed from this world_," he replied slowly, each word deliberate.

"No…" Sora stared incredulously at the doctor. His head dropped slightly and his clenched the fists at his sides.

Something inside Riku snapped as those words rolled off Frankenollie's tongue. Fire built up and swarmed his heart in ravenous flames.

Enraged far beyond reason, Riku stuck out his right hand. A flash a bright light emanated from his open palm, and his fingers curled around a red and black handle that had materialized. It was a Keyblade—his Keyblade, Way to the Dawn. It symbolized his long trek back from the realm of darkness to where a warm, rising sun would embrace him in light.

Riku's eyes flashed as he lashed out towards Dr. Frankenollie, but a hand reached out to rest firmly on his shoulder, ultimately holding him back.

"Riku, no," said Sora, his eyes hidden behind his bangs. "Anger isn't the answer." He lifted his head up, his convicting blue eyes meeting Riku's infuriated ones. "I won't justify what he's done. His acts are unforgivable! But assaulting him mercilessly won't solve anything."

Sora knew what Riku was feeling. He knew it in his heart that rage was overtaking Riku. He knew if Riku were allowed to strike at Dr. Frankenollie now, it would start him on the path to darkness yet again. Sora knew, and he wouldn't let darkness overcome Riku again, not while he was around.

Riku searched Sora's eyes for a long while. Finally, he let out a long sigh and slowly lowered the Keyblade to his side. "You're right," he murmured softly. Sora nodded in response.

They both returned their attention to the neglected doctor who...was nowhere in sight.


	7. Chapter 7: Bones

**Notes:** This chapter was based on the 1933 Disney short "The Mad Doctor." For the record, so was a good portion of the last chapter.

I apologize if this was somewhat late. I had a sudden burst of inspiration to write a chapter that won't occur 'til a while down the road, so I took the opportunity to do so.

**Disclaimer: **I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter 7:  
**

"Where'd he go?" exclaimed Sora.

"Darn it, Sora! We shouldn't have taken our eyes off of him!" growled Riku.

The two friends stood dumbfounded in the middle of the dungeon. The maniacal Dr. Frankenollie had somehow managed to escape in the few minutes allotted to him by Riku's sudden burst of anger.

Sora darted his eyes everywhere in desperate search for the simian doctor. The chalkboard was cluttered with insane calculations, the pipe was threatening to reject the duct tape at any moment, bats screeched and flew continuously above, the papers were still scattered all over the floor, the Bunsen burner was still on, and—hold on. Where was the flask?

"Riku, remember that weird dark liquid he was toying around with earlier?"

Riku nodded. "What about it?"

"I caught a glimpse of a similar description when Frankenollie flashed that report at me."

"What is it exactly?"

Sora hesitated. "Ansem labeled it as _Heartless protoplasm_. It's the stuff he used to produce artificial Heartless!"

Riku's eyes widened. "Sora, we have to stop him. Now."

"I know that! But where did he go?"

Sora and Riku began their search of the dungeon, as there were no visible points of exit. Sora scoured the floors while Riku busied himself with Frankenollie's lab station. He thumbed through several reams of papers, skimming through various indexes of failed experiments. One particular document eventually caught his interest. Imprinted on the top left corner was a red seal similar to the King's. However, the traditional three circles were slightly elongated and disproportionate. Riku's eyes narrowed as he read the contents.

"Riku! Hey!"

Riku's gaze shot up at Sora, who was flailing his arms triumphantly.

"I found a trap door!"

Nodding, Riku folded the document and slipped it into his pocket. He made his way over to Sora.

Sora wrapped both his hands firmly around a circular handle protruding from the ground. With one mighty tug, he willed a rectangular plank up off the ground. Under the plank was a set of stairs that led lower into the structure. Sora glanced over at Riku, who proceeded to climb down first. Sora followed his friend down into the darkness, slowly descending one step after the other.

"It's times like these I wish Lumiere was here," commented Sora offhandedly. He could barely see where he was going and he hoped his foot wouldn't slip off the narrow wooden steps. The only visible light came from dimly lit candles spaced dozens of feet away from each other on the walls.

"Who?" questioned Riku.

"A resident of Beast's castle," Sora explained. "Like the Beast, all of his servants were cursed. Lumiere is one of them. He's a walking candlestick and a pretty snappy singer, too. Though I imagine the curse has worn off by now."

Riku hummed in response. Unlike Sora, Riku spent most of his journey in the shadows and never really made friends with the locals of different worlds. Unless he was forced into a direct confrontation like in the case of the Beast in Hollow Bastion or the Emperor in the Land of Dragons, he was virtually nonexistent to the indigenous folk.

They continued climbing down the stairs in silence for what seemed like hours. Finally, they reached the final step only to find yet another staircase. This time, they were heading upwards.

"Oh man! All that way down only to go back up again?" groaned Sora.

"Yeah, but at least we can climb up faster," replied Riku as he broke into a sprint.

"Hmm, that's true," replied Sora as he followed suit. "There's less fear of slipping when climbing up in the dark."

On his way up, Sora's thoughts were racing. He replayed that scene in his mind over and over again—the scene where the mad doctor had said Pluto had "departed from this world."

"He deliberately went out of his way to say that," Sora thought. "The question is why?"

As they neared the surface, the two friends caught glimpse of a bright light. They raced towards the light and finally came out into a corridor reminiscent of one found in a castle. Several stone archways encircled Sora and Riku. Cobwebs dangled from the arches and entwined around razor-sharp cleavers suspended above each support pillar. There was a fireplace to the far right where a cauldron lay bubbling over the flames. To the adjacent side, a grandfather clock rhythmically ticked in sync with the pitter-patter of a leaking ceiling. The drips trickling from above landed in a beaker, where the liquid was drained into a tube circulating back up through a minute crack.

There was no sign of a door. The archways led into several seemingly endless hallways. There were clocks, stairs, beakers, suits of armor, cobwebs, and cleavers, but not a single door in sight.

"Now which way…?" Riku mumbled.

"Over here!" Sora called out from the foot of yet another staircase.

Riku quirked a brow. "What makes you so sure?"

"Experience," Sora replied confidently with a grand smile.

Riku smirked. "Oh really…?"

Sora began the trek up the wooden stairs. "Yeah. We have to get to the roof," he called over his shoulder.

"Why the roof?"

"Come on, Riku! Where have you been? He's a mad scientist!" exclaimed Sora, as if that were enough to answer Riku's question.

"And that means what to me…?"

"There's a thunderstorm outside and we know Dr. Frankenollie has the Heartless protoplasm. Put two and two together!"

Riku rolled his eyes. "Sorry, Sora. I'm not a walking B-movie database like you."

"B-movies…? No!" Sora shook his head. "I've seen Dr. Finkelstein do it before!"

"Dr. who…?"

"He's a scientist from Halloween Town. His creations usually need large jolts of electricity in order to jumpstart," Sora explained. "Since there's a storm outside, Dr. Frankenollie can make easy use of the lightning."

"Hrm…" Riku furrowed his brows. "What happens if the protoplasm comes in contact with lightning?"

"If we get there fast enough, we won't have to find out!"

Sora was the first to reach the top of the stairs. However, just as his foot hovered over the final step, the wooden board jolted up on an angle causing Sora to lose his footing. Like a row of dominos, all the steps craned upwards creating one giant slope. Sora slipped and tumbled backwards onto Riku, who had also began to lose his footing. The two friends came crashing down on the solid stone floor.

"Argh! Sora! Get off!" exclaimed Riku.

Sora held his head. The entire room was spinning and it took a while for him to register Riku's cries from under him. He hopped to his feet and extended a hand to his best friend.

"Guess we're even," said Sora as he helped Riku to his feet. Riku quirked an eyebrow. "On the Gummi Ship. You landed on me, remember?" Sora explained.

"At least I'm not as heavy as a Behemoth," grumbled Riku.

"Hey!" Sora jumped in irritation. "What's that mean?!"

"You need to lay off the sea-salt ice cream," Riku smirked. He brushed a cobweb off his jacket and glanced towards the staircase. The steps were once again perfectly level.

Sora wandered over to the stairs and cocked his head. He placed his hand on his chin. "I wonder…" He carefully lifted his right foot to the first step.

Nothing happened.

Sora applied pressure to his foot, forcing it down heavily. Suddenly, the plank jerked up to a slant. "Aha!"

"Sora?" uttered Riku.

"Yeah?" Sora turned his head to face Riku, whom was now positioned next to the spandrel. His eyes were firmly fixed on the raised panel.

"Get your Keyblade ready," Riku commanded, not once averting his gaze. He summoned Way to the Dawn and held it at the ready.

"Huh? What for?"

No sooner had Sora spoke when a set of four skeletal phalanges wrapped around the wooden panel, slowly pushing it further out of the way. Now fully upright, it creaked to a stop. The chilling white fingers crackled and retreated behind the panel.

Silence.

Sora stood in bewilderment. Riku had not so much as blinked.

The Kingdom Key had yet to be summoned. The Way to the Dawn was grasped firmly.

A deafening shriek reigned throughout the castle. Sora immediately recognized it as the doctor's sick laughter. Instantly, the remaining panels jerked up in unison. Decaying white skulls peeked over the raised panels and soon grew to full body skeletons. They jumped from under the panels and landed on the ground.

Sora jumped immediately away, calling forth the Kingdom Key as he did so. "Looks like he's been experimenting with more than just chickens!" Sora smirked nervously.

The foremost skeleton reached up to its ribcage and grabbed hold of a rib. With a sickening crunch, it tore its own rib out and hurled it towards Sora. A flash of silver shot before Sora, effectively batting away the jagged hunk of calcium. He lowered his Keyblade slightly and smirked. "It's official. They're the bad guys."

Now airborne to evade a barrage of ribs and the occasional clavicle, Riku held his Keyblade close, using it as a shield. "Oh? And did your _experience_ help you arrive to that conclusion?" he scoffed. Landing back on his feet, he took a jab here and swipe there at the nearest skeletons. Crunch! Crack! Snap! Bones were dislocated and crushed into fine white pulp by Riku's swift movements.

"Nah, walking skeletons are a poor source of experience," Sora joked. He gripped his Kingdom Key tightly and launched himself towards the mob of hostile skeletons. "If you really want to rack up the points, I'd recommend whacking around a few Wyverns."

Another barrage of bones came flying. A radius followed by an ulna, and finally a humerus. Sora plowed through the oncoming onslaught and rammed his Keyblade into skeleton after skeleton. They crumbled to his feet without much resistance.

"First cartoons, then B-movies, and now video games? Seriously, Sora, where's your head today?" Riku smirked. Rapidly twirling his Keyblade around his fingers, he reflected a swarm of flying femurs back to their casters.

A skeleton tore out its leg and struck Sora across the chest, sending him flying into a stone pillar. The shock caused the dangling cleavers suspended above to loosen and drop. Sora instinctively somersaulted out of the way as the razors struck.

"Not with these guys, thankfully," Sora eventually replied. He swung his Keyblade at the skeleton with the dislodged leg, flinging its skull smack into the wall.

As the bones came flying, the Keyblades kept swinging. The horde of skeletons was eventually reduced to a heaping clump of dislodged and heavily fractured bones. The two Keyblade wielders stood back-to-back mildly out of breath.

"Well, that was easy," Riku stated with a half smile.

"I don't think they were meant to stop us, Riku," Sora replied. "I'm pretty sure they were stalling for time."

Riku nodded. "Then we'd better get going."

The Keyblades vanished in a burst of light as the two friends proceeded to climb the stairs yet again. This time, they succeeded in reaching the landing only to be greeted by more stairs.

"Looks like we're going up in the world, huh?" Riku mused.

"How many stairs does this guy have?" Sora groaned.

"At least they're not wooden this time," Riku said pointedly.

The two hiked up another eleven flights of stone stairs until they finally came to a grand set of double doors.

"You know…" Sora began, out of breath. "This place doesn't look that big…from the outside…"

"Makes you wonder just how far underground we were," replied Riku.

The two examined the doors before opening them. They were crafted from a very high quality red wood and rimmed with solid gold, which contrasted heavily with the stone décor from the previous floors. Each door had a set of unique engravings that only appeared congruent from afar. However, seeing them close up, the two friends could make out distinctly different patterns.

The left door had an engraving of what appeared to be a grand dragon whose tail possessively coiled all around the frame. Its claws reached out near the handle in a menacing gesture. Grand flames projected from out its mouth and melted towards the right center-edge of the door. Tense, beady eyes gazed upon the direction of the fire's target.

The right door's engraving was slightly different. Although it too contained an engraving of a grand dragon, it was positioned differently. It faced the dragon to the left with its claws stretched out towards the handle in a defensive manner, almost as if pleading for the other dragon to discontinue its assault of flames. Its eyes gazed out to the left with strength and determination, but with a gentle softness at the same time. The dragon's tail wrapped protectively around the doorframe. An array of jagged spikes almost like icicles enshrouded in a gentle mist protruded from its mouth leading towards the left center-edge.

"What do you think it means?" Sora questioned.

"It could symbolize many things," said Riku thoughtfully. "We can theorize after we've caught that crazy monkey."

Sora nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right." He reached out a hand to each handle and met with air. "Huh?" Confused, Sora tried to reach for the handles again. However, just as he motioned to do so, a burst of bright light emanated from the foot of the double doors and slowly engulfed them in blinding light. Sora and Riku were both forced to shield their eyes. They turned to look at the doors again.

They were gone.

In their place was a singular, shabby-looking wooden door with darkened hinges and a rusted doorknob.

Riku quirked an eyebrow. "What just happened? One of Frankenollie's tricks?"

"I…don't think so," said Sora slowly. His head felt somewhat lighter and his heart skipped a beat. A feeling of nostalgia washed over him. Although he had never seen those exact doors before, they triggered the memory of a particular door from the past. For a reason unbeknownst to Sora, the dragon doors sprung the memory of the door he opened in a dream—the dream that kicked off his journey as the Keyblade Master.

Riku turned to Sora curiously. "What do you mean?"

Sora shook his head and thought for a moment. "I can't really explain it, but I don't think Frankenollie was responsible for those doors."

Riku cocked a smirk. "Oh really? Let me guess: experience?"

"Actually, yes," Sora replied sincerely. He raised a hand to his chest. "My heart tells me we saw those doors for a reason."

Riku's smirk melted. "If that's what your heart says, then it must be true."

"Too bad we don't have time to think about it," Sora replied, reaching for the rusted knob. He creaked open the door and was greeted by an extremely narrow, stone tunnel. "This guy's obsessed with medieval stone architecture…"

"And he's obviously not claustrophobic," Riku added, realizing just how cramped the space was.

Sora proceeded into the tunnel first. It was not wide enough to fit the two friends side-by-side, so Riku followed closely behind. The dimly lit tunnel stretched out far, and was composed of large stone bricks.

Suddenly, Riku came to halt. He placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, yanking him slightly back. "Did you hear that?" Riku whispered.

Sora paused. Focusing hard on his ears, a crackling noise rapped against his eardrums. Dust spewed from the cracks above as a tremor broke out in the tunnel. Riku tightened his grip on Sora's shoulder and jerked him backwards in time to evade the crumbling rubble crashing down from the ceiling. Sora regained his balance only to shove further back as an entire stone block dislodged itself and plummeted to the ground. The entire ceiling began collapsing.

"Riku! We've gotta backshuffle!" Sora called over his shoulder.

"_Noooo… neeeeeed…!"_ echoed Riku's fading voice. Puzzled by the acoustics, Sora turned his head. Riku was gone, and in his place was a trap door. Sora shrugged and jumped in after his friend. Anything was better than getting bonked on the head by solid rock.

Okay, maybe not _anything_. Right now, that solid rock started looking mighty good to Sora. At least it wouldn't gut out his innards.

"I don't think_ these_ guys are here just to stall us…" Riku uttered.

Sora and Riku were surrounded by a mob of heavily armored skeletons. They each sported heavy breastplates, shields, and helmets. Their armor was black and rimmed with gold, and their weapons were a mixture of maces, staves, and swords. Flaming red eyes illuminated from their eye sockets and glared devilishly at the two friends.

Without hesitation, the key wielders summoned their blades and lashed out at the undead warriors.

* * *

Sora gripped the Kingdom Key with both hands and sent it smashing down on the nearest skeleton. The Keyblade instantly bounced off and knocked Sora on the head. He fell flat on his back and immediately rolled to the right, evading a razor sharp sword. The sword lodged itself firmly into the ground and proved difficult to pull out. Hopping back to his feet, Sora slashed at the distracted skeleton. Again, the Keyblade bounced off the armor. This time, however, Sora swerved his head to the side, avoiding the backlash.

The skeleton managed to free its sword, and in one fluid motion, yanked it out of the ground and swung it at Sora. Another two skeletons crept up behind Sora, blocking his escape route. He instinctively ducked from the incoming sword. Missing Sora by a hair, it scrapped alongside the armors of the two newly arrived skeletons. Before he could recover, Sora found himself propelled towards the wall. A mace had struck him square in the chest, leaving a wide-open gash. The three skeletons charged towards the injured Keyblade Master.

Groaning, Sora hurriedly flicked open the red pouch at his side and yanked out a small, blue bottle. He uncorked it with his teeth and spat the cork to the side. Downing the contents in a single gulp, he shot up reenergize and raised the Keyblade in his defense. The mace came swinging back, this time blocked by the Keyblade. Sora swung the Keyblade like a bat and returned the mace towards the skeleton in full-force. The jagged ball smashed into the skeleton's skull and sent it tumbling backwards. However, two more skeletons were still charging.

The undead warrior with the sword flung his weapon at Sora, who dodged it effortlessly with a smirk. The sword screeched past him and lodged itself into the wall, the hilt wobbling. Sora's smirk quickly disappeared when a burning sensation struck him in the side. The sword was used as a diversion. The stave-totting zombie wasted no time in conjuring a fireball and directing towards distracted Sora. Its eyes flashed as it swirled its stave high in the air summoning a full barrage of fireballs. Sora quickly dodged and rolled out of the way as the flames came crashing into the ground, each time getting closer and closer to hitting him.

After setting its skull back into position with a sickening crunch, the undead warrior with the mace came back in full force and obstructed Sora's rolling path. Sora bumped his head on the skeleton's legs and came to a halt. A massive ball of blue flames rained from above and pounded into his back. Refusing to give up, Sora used his Keyblade for support and forced himself to his feet. The three skeletons now surrounded him. A sword, a mace, and a stave were pointed at his throat. Sora's mind rapidly flashed through different battle strategies.

An idea clicked.

Sora raised his Keyblade and held it firmly with both hands. He forced it down to the ground using all his might and hollered, "_Explosion!!_"

The Keyblade rammed into the ground, pulsating with blue light. Seismic shockwaves exploded from the ground and flung the skeletons in every-which direction.

Sora let out a breath of relief and wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead.

He shouldn't have left his guard down.

A loud ringing buzzed in his ears. The world spun in rapid, nauseating circles, and a terrible pain shot through his body. Then, a great numbness settled in and everything went dark. Sora was flung into the wall where he slid down and collapsed. A large icicle protruded from his chest. The Keyblade vanished and the three skeletons loomed nearer.

* * *

Riku hammered his Keyblade into the backside of a mace-totting skeleton only to have it rebound. His wrist snapped backwards and threatened to behead him with his own blade. He didn't dare try his luck twice and instead leapt out of the way of a whizzing sword. Mace and sword fell into a rhythmic assault, and Riku found himself bouncing off the walls in evasion. All the while, the sole warrior with the stave looked on in a motionless trance. Its red orbs traced Riku's every movement.

Tired of fleeing, Riku swerved around to take the offensive. This time, however, he had a plan. Bending his knees, he sprung towards the sword wielder. The sword came crashing down, an act anticipated by Riku. He jammed his free hand upwards and snatched the sword clear from the skeleton's grasp. Pivoting his foot, he rammed it into the skeleton's legs causing the undead warrior to lurch forwards and smash right into Riku's waiting kneecap. Its mandible crunched against the maxilla and forced the entire skull backwards. Riku didn't miss a beat as he thrust his leg into the skeleton's armor and sent it flying into its mace-swinging cohort. The two skeletons tumbled to the ground.

Gripping his Keyblade tightly, Riku moved in for the final blow. He leapt into the air only to be forced against the wall by a powerful blow to the abdomen. The previously motionless stave-wielding skeleton swirled its stave and summoned a rather large floating skull, and rammed it repeatedly into Riku.

"Urk…" Riku struggled to keep conscious and divert his attention away from the mind-numbing pain searing through his abdomen. The skull reeled back to gain momentum and then tackled Riku yet again in the same spot. It repeated this action once, twice, thrice—Riku lost count. The rapid attacks didn't allow him time to lift the Keyblade to his defense. His entire body suddenly grew very heavy and his vision began to blur. Concentrating the remainder of his energy into his entire being, he opened his mouth and shouted until his lungs were burning. "_Dark shield!!_"

A bluish haze materialized in front of Riku and encased his entire body. The skull attempted to ram itself into Riku yet again, but was repelled by the blue haze. This provided Riku enough time to inch his free hand into his pocket and yank out a small green bottle. He ripped off the cap and nearly choked on the syrupy liquid as it oozed down his throat. His strength returned in full-force just as the blue haze dispersed. Riku took up his Keyblade and slammed it into the oncoming floating skull, cracking it in half.

Not wasting a second, Riku grit his teeth and lunged towards the stave-wielder before another skull could be summoned onto the scene. Airborne yet again, Riku aimed his Keyblade steadily at the skeleton below. Time stood still for an instant as bluish spark went off in the distance. Riku caught the spark from the corner of his eye and his heart jolted in pain. Without a conscious thought, Riku called out the name of his best friend.

"Sora!"

Riku swung his entire body around and ricocheted himself off a stone pillar towards the direction of the bluish spark. He drove his feet into the three skeletons surrounding Sora, sending them all toppling against the adjacent wall. Riku touched down and knelt by his friend's side.

"Hey, Sora! C'mon! Is that all you got?" He gently nudged his best friend's shoulder.

Sora's eyes fluttered open reluctantly. He groaned and blinked a few times.

"Don't move just yet," Riku said calmly. "You have a hunk of ice jetting out of your chest."

"Wh-wha…?" Sora struggled to say. Kairi's words just weren't registering. It was Kairi who was talking…right?

Riku swiftly reached into his pocket and produced another green bottle. He uncapped it and held it to Sora's mouth. "Here, drink this. It's a Hi-Potion, so don't mind the extra potency," he said as he tilted it up for Sora to drink. Streaks of the thick liquid streamed down the sides of Sora's mouth as he tried to gurgle it down.

When the bottle was emptied, Riku chucked it aside and turned his full attention to the icicle. Gripping both hands over it firmly, he swiftly yanked it out and tossed it to the side. He then produced yet another bottle from his pocket—a blue one his time—and poured its contents over the wound, healing it instantly. Soon after the wound vanished, black cloth materialized over it and sewed closed the hole in Sora's shirt.

Sora shut his eyes tightly and slowly reopened them. He shook his head a little and stared up at Riku. "Huh…? Riku?" he said groggily.

Riku offered a light smirk. "You're lucky your clothes are magical," he chuckled lightly. "If my jacket took half the beating yours does, I'd be forced to buy my own department store just to keep up."

Sora opened his mouth to reply, but instead grabbed his friend's arm and shoved him to the side. A mace landed squarely where Riku previously knelt.

All six skeletons were now huddling around the two friends. Sora and Riku both got to their feet and called forth their Keyblades.

"After all those beatings, none of them look remotely worn down," grumbled Sora.

"It's like we're cursed," replied Riku. "We'll be engaged in endless combat with these guys for all eternity. What's worse is our Keyblades bounce right off so we're likely to be our own worst nightmare for a while."

Sora's eyes widened. Something in his head just clicked. He swung his head towards Riku. "What did you just say…?"

"What, an endless death match sounds appealing to you?" cocked Riku.

"No, no! About the curse!" exclaimed Sora happily.

Riku quirked a brow. "You…_want_ to be cursed?"

"That's not it," Sora shook his head. "I just remembered something!"

"What?"

"Skeletons are weak against magic!" Sora proudly proclaimed.

"I see…" Riku nodded. "So fight fire with fire?"

"Exactly!" Sora swung his Keyblade up and pointed it at the nearest skeleton. "_FIRE!_" A burst of red flames erupted from the Keyblade and shot out towards the undead warrior. Fire ravaged the skeleton as it flailed its arms around in desperate attempt to extinguish the flames.

Riku smirked and eyed the remaining five skeletons with a sinister glare. Way to the Dawn dissolved in a flicker of light. Riku jumped up and aimed his open palms at the skeletons. "_Dark Aura!_" he hollered. Blue fireballs launched out of his palms in rapid succession, pummeling the skeletons mercilessly.

Blue and red flames consumed the skeletons as Riku and Sora continued their counterattack. The undead warriors eventually collapsed into heaping piles of ash and melted armor.

Finally able to relax, Sora and Riku took a moment to catch their breath.

"Hey, Riku?"

Riku tilted his head towards Sora who was resting a hand on the spot where the icicle had been moments ago. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Riku smirked. "You owe me 140 munny in potions."

"What? Hey! That's not fair!" Sora exclaimed. Riku merely laughed, causing Sora to frown and then eventually break into laughter as well.

They were best friends. They'd look after each other. No matter what.

* * *

"If I never… see another flight… of stairs… it will be… too soon…" Sora wheezed. He and Riku had just ascended over twenty flights of stairs after climbing down fifteen.

"I hear you…" panted Riku.

The two had arrived to a single corridor with a sole door at the very end. They dragged their feet to the door and took a short rest, leaning against the wall to steady their breathing.

Finally, Sora's hand ventured towards the singular bronze knob.

"If there are any skeletons or stairs behind this door, I'm going home to swap my Keyblade for Selphie's jump rope," Sora declared.

"What, so you're forfeiting our competition for a jump rope?" snickered Riku.

"Huh? We're still competing?"

"Of course we are. First one to land a blow to that insane primate's head wins," replied Riku.

"Okay, you're on!" grinned Sora. He turned the knob and opened the door. He let out a sigh of relief. No stairs. No skeletons. However, there was rain. And lightning—lots of lightning.

Sora and Riku had reached their destination. They wandered out onto the drenched roof where the wildly crazy Dr. Frankenollie awaited them with his signature devilish smirk.

"Well, well, boys. Took you long enough to get here," he chortled. "What's the matter? Can't climb a few steps? Gwaha!" He burst into a fit of insane laughter.

"It's over, Frankenollie!" shouted Sora. "We know you have the Heartless protoplasm. Hand it over and surrender!"

The maniacal doctor cocked his head. "_You_ want _me_ to surrender?" he sneered. Sora, Riku, and the doctor were locked in a contest of menacing glares.

A bolt of lightning streaked along the sky.

Slowly, Dr. Frankenollie reached a gloved hand into his coat pocket. Ever so gradually as if to savor every last second, he tugged out the flask of dark purplish liquid. All eyes fell on the flask and the doctor cackled. He reached yet again into his pocket, this time producing a metallic rod. He stuck it into the liquid and swirled it around a bit.

Frankenollie's eyes shot up and met Sora's. "Let's conduct an experiment, shall we?" He brazenly smirked, flashing his jagged teeth. The doctor shoved the flask high above his head, gripping it tightly in his rubber-gloved hand.

Sora stared on in horror behind rain-soaked bangs as lightning struck the metallic rod. Electric shockwaves surged into the liquid, causing it to bubble rapidly.

Frankenollie started on another insane fit of laughter, this time landing on his back and kicking his feet in the air.

Riku shot out from beside Sora and raced towards the cackling madman. A forceful tug came at the base of his leg, threatening to tear the limb straight out. He stumbled to his knees and glanced back. A bony, fleshless hand had reached up from under the roof and took hold of his leg.

"Riku!"

Twirling his head immediately around, he saw two heavily armored skeletons pinning Sora forcefully to the ground.

"Now, now, boys," wheezed Frankenollie, his throat hoarse from all that laughter. "Let them up. You know that's not how daddy likes to handle his guinea pigs."

The fingers wound around Riku's leg loosened and sunk back into the roof. He immediately swung around towards Sora, who was also free from the clutches of his captors.

Sora got to his feet and nudged his head towards the doctor. Riku turned his gaze and saw two skeletons obediently kneeling before the mad monkey.

"You two are in for a treat," he said, pouring the liquid over the two skeletons. "You're the first to see the results of Heartless matter merge with the physiological structure of the undead."

"Frankenollie,_** NO!**_" yelled Sora.

Too late.

The black and purple goo oozed down the skeletal structure of the undead warriors, enveloping them in a thick layer of the stuff. Their flaming red eyes were instantly snuffed out and replaced with soul-piercing yellow orbs. Darkness seethed through every inch of the warriors. They ceased to be skeletons and were now encased in a pitch-black shadowy substance.

The maniacal monkey emitted deafening shrills of laughter as his creations loomed over the two horror-stricken friends.


	8. Chapter 8: Pulling out All the Stops

**Notes:** Apologies, friends. This one took a while to write, mainly because of the choreography. It took a few tries to reach a desirable outcome. I hope you enjoy

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Pulling out All the Stops  
**

A storm was brewing to the north. It started as a cluster of dark, turbulent clouds and evolved gradually into a whirlwind of torrential rains swallowing all of Disney Town.

What started as a light drizzle of water droplets moistening the occasional strand of hair quickly transformed into a maelstrom threatening to flatten everything from the dozens of Joe's diners to the castle itself.

The normally bustling streets were all but deserted save for the few who scrambled desperately to find shelter.

Using his shield as an umbrella, Goofy ushered Donald and Kairi under the archway of a Joe's restaurant. He tried for the door, but a hand reached out to stop him.

"Kairi? What're ya doin'? We have ta get outta the storm!" he shouted over the thunder.

With one hand on Goofy's arm and the other keeping her hair steady from the howling winds, Kairi glanced out into the ravaging storm. At first, she didn't reply. She merely stared at the swirling dark clouds with a mixed sense of fear and anxiety. "This is wrong…" she uttered ominously.

"Kairi…?" Donald was now looking up at her with concerned eyes.

"This is wrong!" She shot her gaze to Goofy and Donald, alternating between the two. "Goofy, Donald! This isn't just a storm!" She began to panic slightly.

"What do you mean, Kairi?" questioned Donald.

"A storm like this… I've seen it before," Kairi explained. "It was on the night Destiny Islands disappeared."

Goofy and Donald jumped.

"Gawrsh! Are ya sure?" gaped Goofy.

Kairi nodded sternly. Her eyes traveled to the heart of the storm—the towering cliff to the far north. A grave look of worry washed over her countenance. Sliding her hand off of Goofy, Kairi pointed at Dr. Frankenollie's lair in the distance where bolts of lightning struck in rhythmic succession. "Someone's trying to open this world's door."

"Then we'd better get up there quick!" exclaimed Goofy.

Donald gripped his wand tightly and nodded. "Let's go get 'em, Goofy!"

Goofy turned to Kairi. "You'd better stay here, Kairi. Who knows what we'll have to deal with! There might be Heartless!"

Kairi shook her head firmly. "No, I'm going too." Without waiting for Goofy's reaction, she dashed off into the storm.

"Huh? Hey! Wait fer us!" exclaimed Goofy, sprinting off after her.

Donald jumped in frustration. "Don't forget about me!" he quacked.

* * *

Chaos broke out on the creaky old roof of Dr. Frankenollie's abode. The mad doctor had once again pulled a disappearing act, leaving Sora and Riku locked in a dance of death as they parried vicious blows from their newfound foes. The unearthed skeletons from mere moments ago were transformed into seething blobs of darkness. Heartless matter spewed from bulging bubbles periodically popping across the warriors' dark, gooey flesh. Their evolving bodies did not retain one shape for too long as sludgy dark matter dripped from every inch.

The fusion between bewitched skeletons and Heartless matter proved to be lethal on the battlefield. They carried neither swords nor shields, yet proved deadly all the same. Unlike previous foes, they had no visible bones to snap off and chuck maliciously. Instead, they possessed mammoth strength and oozed with venomous dark goo.

One swing of a sludge-caked limb was enough to send Sora packing clear through the brick chimney and off the roof. His back smacked against the trunk of a dying tree and he slid to the muddy ground. Heartless matter splattered against the fabric of his right black sleeve and trickled down to his bare arm where it burned into his flesh.

"Argh!" he cried as the darkness seeped into his skin. It plunged into his bloodstream and progressed outward towards his heart.

Clenching his teeth, Sora futilely tried to lift his Keyblade with his now limp arm. His heart was racing, pounding against his chest madly as the poison continued to spread. Sweating profusely, Sora reached over with his unaffected hand and lifted the blade shakily. He felt feverish and knew his sanity was slipping. What did he want to do with this blade in his hand? Fight? No. Cast a spell? Yes. Which spell?

"Which…?" he uttered feebly, now thinking out loud. His mind was racing in nauseating circles. All the battle strategies and fighting know-how once firmly planted in his conscious melted into a sopping puddle of mush.

Sora knew his time was wearing thin. The darkness leeched its way up through his arm. Spiraling black streaks were visible all along the limb. If he removed his jacket and shirt, the streaks would surely be arching towards his chest. Sora knew he had to force himself to think. He had to concentrate… concentrate…

Sora's eyes drowsily sank closed.

Time had stopped. Sora opened his eyes and found himself in a musty cave-like tunnel. The echoes of rushing water bounced off the moistened bedrock. Sora's eyes fell to the flowing water at his feet. He traced the stream to the very far end where a grand mural of the moon and stars glistened. Sora immediately recognized this place to be the Secret Waterway from Traverse Town.

"Every world among the stars has a Keyhole. And each one leads to the heart of that world."

Sora turned around abruptly towards the source of the voice. He saw himself when he was younger standing attentively before a man with a black leather jacket and a red lion's head emblem on the sleeve. Next to the man was a woman with long, brown braided hair dressed in complete pink attire. _ "Leon and Aerith…"_

"The Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core," Leon continued.

"What happens to the world?" Sora heard his younger self ask.

"In the end, it disappears," replied Aerith.

"What!" his younger self jumped.

"That's why your Key is so important," Leon finished.

The three figures turned transparent and slowly faded away with the scenery. Sora found himself standing in darkness alone and confused. An echo of pain jolted from his upper right chest. The darkness was nearing his heart…

Sora lurched forward as the darkness swirled around him. Cracks of light faulted through the darkness and Sora found himself standing in another familiar place from his past. The light of the room pushed the remaining darkness aside, revealing the rows of thousands of books strung along numerous large shelves.

He was at Radiant Garden—or rather, Hollow Bastion as it was called at the time. More specifically, he was in the library.

"Here, Sora. While combing through these dusty shelves, I've managed to find these few pages of Ansem's Reports."

Sora turned around and saw Aerith conversing with his younger self. Young Sora took the pages and skimmed through them.

"I can't believe he'd experiment on people like that!" his young self exploded after reading the contents. "He even opened the door to this world!"

"Yes, Ansem's actions were horrendous and beyond forgivable," Aerith replied. "But we can't change the past." She placed a caring hand on younger Sora's shoulder. She arched over to level her emerald eyes with his brilliant blue ones. "We can only continue forward on this path. Please continue fighting the Heartless, Sora. You're the only one who can stop the gears that have been turning for far too long."

Younger Sora grinned confidently. "Don't worry! I'm seeing this through to the end. I won't back down until I've stopped the Heartless for good."

Aerith smiled warmly and readjusted her posture. "Thank you," she replied. "Just one more thing before your departure…"

"Yes?"

"I've noticed your magic's improved, but I don't think it will be enough to protect you from Ansem," she stated worriedly.

"Really…?" Younger Sora furrowed his brows. "What should I do?"

"I'll teach you a higher level of curing your ailments. _Curaga_ will not only heal you, but it will also purify your body if you've been poisoned. Pay close attention, because this requires concentration…" Aerith's voice trailed off and vanished. Her lips continued to move, but all audibility had ceased. She and younger Sora became transparent and soon faded along with the entire library.

Sora shot open his heavily crusted eyes.

"_Heal...!_" he croaked with raspy breath. Instantly, a green light resonated from the Keyblade and flashed over Sora's head. A pure white flower bloomed within the light's aura and shed tears of curing solution. Golden droplets fluttered over Sora's body, instantaneously purging the dark poison from his system.

A sudden burst of relief washed over Sora's body. The black streaks running along his arm vanished and his mind stabilized. Sora bounced back to his feet and flexed his muscles.

"Phew! That was close…"

Demonic yellow eyes fell on the Keyblade Master. Sloshing its way forward, the swelling heap of dark sludge plunged off the roof. It recomposed itself in front of Sora and prepared for another assault. The Keyblade Master wasted no time in readying himself for the next round.

"I have to be extra careful not to get that gunk on my skin again," he thought as the enemy drew nearer. "No more playing around. I either give everything or lose everything." He reached into his red pouch and produced an azure heart-shaped keychain with a sliver of gold coiling around it protectively. Sora unlatched the silver keychain dangling from the Keyblade and replaced it with the new one.

A flash of bright light engulfed the silver and gold Kingdom Key. When it died down, the Keyblade had transformed into the bright azure and gold Ultima Weapon.

Sora gripped both hands around the newly formed blade and slowly raised it above his head. "_Defense!_" he hollered. Rapid gusts of wind rivaling the storm encircled Sora as he cast _Aeroga_. "Hopefully this should be enough to keep that stuff off me for a while," he thought.

Keyblade firmly in his grasp and knees bent, Sora launched himself at the enemy.

* * *

Back on the roof, Riku had his hands full dodging rapid swinging masses of what he could only assume were limbs. Instinct was telling him to stay clear of the dark, acidic goo dripping off his opponent's frame as he continued the mad evasive dance. Had he not been busy avoiding the stuff, he would have surely noticed Sora's plight and rushed to his aid. But with all his attention towards protecting his own life, Riku's mind could only entertain ideas of evasion. What's worse, he was doing it all without a Keyblade.

Way to the Dawn made contact with the Heartless-like enemy twice. The first time, it sliced right through the sludge. Any visible gaps were soon sealed by the abundant excess of goo and obviously proved little hindrance to the enemy. The second time Riku struck his Keyblade into the heaping pile of dark muck, he succeeded in lodging it in there pretty tightly. The flailing limbs of spewing dark matter prevented him from getting anywhere near the hilt, and any attempts to summon the blade to his hands resulted in failure. It was stuck there in the darkness, slowly being devoured.

Dark matter splattered everywhere as the limbs continued to fly. Riku called forth his Dark Shield in defense far too many times and it began to affect his performance. In between shields, he tried firing off Dark Aura a couple of times only to have the azure flames effortlessly inhaled by the massive blob. With his mana (MP) slowly draining out of his system, he knew it wouldn't be too long before he was a sitting duck.

In hopes of creating an opening, Riku switched tactics from simple evasion to running circles around the enemy. The torso of dark matter twisted round and round creating swirls of black and dark purple. Finally, the familiar red-rimmed black heart keychain emerged from a spewing bubble. It gradually projected out more and more until the entire hilt came into view.

Charging around the enemy for one final lap, Riku lunged himself towards the protruding blade. He quickly removed the white armband from his left wrist and used it to grab hold of the dampened hilt. Focusing all of his strength into his arms, he tore the blade from out of the oozing monster and flung himself backwards onto his feet.

Riku allowed the Keyblade to dissipate from his hand in hopes it would cleanse itself of the dark goo. Drops of sweat mixed with the rain trickled from his brow as he contemplated his next move. The armband was no longer white but caked in poisonous muck. Riku tossed it to the side making a mental note to mooch the munny off of Sora to buy a new one later. His gaze immediately fixed on the massive malicious monster before him. Despite tearing an enormous chunk of matter when removing the Keyblade, the shadow was seemingly unfazed. More of the abundant gunk bled into place, bulging out of the previously gaping hole.

"This…is not good," Riku thought. Nothing was working on this thing! But he couldn't give up. No, it had to have a weakness somewhere and Riku wouldn't stop until he found it.

Taking in a deep breath, he prepared to call forth his Keyblade once more. Should it return still caked in sludge, there would be problems. Not having witnessed Sora's encounter with the dark goo, Riku was unaware of the effects of the stuff. However, his battle instincts were seldom wrong. And as his stomach turned into knots, Riku's mind didn't even bother to fathom comforting thoughts.

Riku held out his bare right hand, took another deep breath, and called forth Way to the Dawn. When the blade slipped into his clutch, a wave of immense relief washed over him. The Keyblade glistened with a pristine shine.

And yet, he collapsed with a sickening thud onto the rain-drenched roof, writhing in pain.

* * *

The torrential downpour intensified, threatening Sora's footing. Sloshing around in the mud threw off his evasive maneuvers drastically. The shearing gusts of wind provided effective shielding from the poisonous matter, yet they did little to increase Sora's impact tolerance. Crushing blows from flinging limbs sent him flying sky high.

"I'm not getting anywhere like this!" Sora grumbled in frustration. A powerful blow had slammed him into another tree. Quickly recovering, he dodged another assault by somersaulting out of the way. But the raving wind currents of the storm picked up and veered him off course. Sora's head rammed into a tree trunk and he toppled flat onto his back.

"Ouch!" Sora exclaimed, rubbing his forehead. The monster behind him let out a roar, sending the Keyblade Master jumping back onto his feet. "There has to be a way to stop the Heartless matter from regenerating. Maybe if I freeze it…?" He cocked another glance at the sopping pile of goo slowly trekking towards him. "It's worth a shot!"

Sora held the Keyblade in both hands and aimed it at the incoming unstable Heartless. "_Deep freeze!_" Giant, jagged icicles erupted from the monster's torso. Sora continued to clutch the Keyblade, jerking it upwards slightly and then immediately casting it down. A thick sheet of ice crept up from the cluster of icicles and slowly encased the malformed Heartless in a solid block of ice.

Sora warily eyed the statue-like monster. He was uncertain whether or not ice would be strong enough to contain a shadow with such ferocious strength. As if to confirm his worst fears, the ice fractured. Heartless matter slowly oozed out of the crack. A bolt of lightning flashed, followed by the shattering of ice. Chunks of ice doused with darkness scattered everywhere, and the entire monster was set free with a loud roar.

"No good. The ice doesn't hold up! The only option I have left is to attack faster than it can regenerate," Sora thought. He eyed the radiant azure blade with streaming golden streaks in his hand. "With Ultima Weapon, that shouldn't be too difficult. And if not, I have a couple of Ethers just in case."

The enraged malformed Heartless roared again. It shot out its malice-driven limbs in hopes of squashing the Keyblade Master. Sora dodged the assault by jumping backwards into the air. Without missing a beat, he hurled his Keyblade at the distracted enemy. "_Strike Raid!_" The Ultima Weapon sawed its way through the demon of darkness, slicing away chunks of its matter.

"_Raid!_" Again the Keyblade seared into the slab of goo.

"_Raid!_" More chunks of matter went flying, earning a guttural groan from the enemy.

"_Judgment!_" Sora clasped the Keyblade in both hands and sent it flying with impeccable force.

The seeping blob of organic darkness grunted. Drooping down its oozing head, it caught sight of four gaping holes. It jerked its head up slightly, avoiding the Keyblade's boomerang-like return flight. With the Keyblade out of the way, the holes gradually began resealing themselves with Heartless matter.

"I don't think so!" roared Sora as he rushed forward to catch the blade. The rapid cyclone encircling him blasted the goo clean off the Keyblade as it returned to its wielder's clutch. "_Sonic Blade!_" An electric blue aura radiated from Sora as he lunged forward and rammed the Keyblade straight through his opponent.

"_Rave!_" With earth-shattering force the Keyblade Master was again propelled through his foe with lightning speed.

"_Rave!_" Carving long streaks into the softened, muddy ground, Sora pummeled the Keyblade into the enemy yet again.

"_Rave!_" This time, the Keyblade failed to connect with murky sludge. The malformed Heartless willed a gap in its own body and led Sora astray. He plowed straight into Dr. Frankenollie's house, and crashed into a set of stairs.

"Oh…my head…" he groaned, rubbing the back of his head gingerly. He didn't have much time to tend to his aching body, however. The gurgling roar from outside snapped him back to his feet scrambling past the newly created rubble. He plunged himself back out into the storm.

A clap of thunder applauded the Keyblade Master's reentrance. Sora gazed up at the regenerating mass of darkness. It was standing lopsided now, with obvious gaping gaps and holes that were slowly amassing replacement matter.

"No, I won't let you!" shouted Sora. Clasping the Keyblade tightly in both hands, he lunged himself forward once more, shouting, "_Ars Arcanum!_" Strike after menacing strike landed in rapid succession, each hacking away at regenerating bits. The flurry of strikes bashed into the blob, amounting it to nothing more than a pile of dark jelly.

"Just a little more…" Sora panted. He was exhausted. The excess force and concentration required to steady his movements while fighting in the storm didn't help any.

Steadying his breathing, Sora raised the Keyblade. "This one's gotta count—"

"_**ARGH!!**_"

The sickening scream pierced Sora's ears. He immediately shot his head up towards the roof. He caught the sight of his best friend toppling over onto his side, writing in pain.

"Oh no! Riku!"

* * *

"Argh!! Wh..wha…?! Gaaaah!" Riku screamed. He involuntarily rolled from side to side, his mind shattering into pieces with every jolt.

"_This should help!_"

Drops of golden dew tricked down onto Riku's body, purging the pain. He sat up panting lightly and glanced over his shoulder. Sora was there with his hand outstretched.

"You okay?" asked Sora.

"Yeah," nodded Riku. He took hold of Sora's hand and was hoisted to his feet. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," replied Sora. "But don't let your guard down. It's right behind you!" He shoved Riku to the side and lifted the Keyblade. "_Deep freeze!_"

Once again Sora managed to encase an unstable Heartless in a block of ice. Riku was stunned at the sight.

"Sora, you—"

"No, it won't hold for long," Sora quickly interjected. He reached into his red pouch and pulled out two light green bottles, one of which he handed to Riku. "Here, I'd imagine you're running low just about now. I know I am."

"An Ether?" question Riku as he took the bottle. "Now that you mention it, I could really use one. Thanks." He uncapped the bottle and downed the bitter liquid. Sora mimicked the action, and they both cast their bottles aside simultaneously.

Almost immediately after the two finished their drinks, the block of ice shattered. Both Riku and Sora jumped back from the roaring monster.

Riku cocked his head to the side. "So how do we beat these things?" he uttered.

Sora didn't immediately answer. He pivoted around to face the opposite end of the roof where his foe from before was slowly inching upwards. It was completely unscathed and showed no signs of the previous fight.

"Listen, I know it's a long shot, but we have to hack away at them until there's nothing left," explained Sora over his shoulder. "Oh, and before I forget…_Defense!_"

Riku quirked a brow. "Aeroga…?"

"Trust me. It'll keep the Heartless matter off of you," Sora assured.

"If you say so," shrugged Riku. "So do you have a plan?"

"Yeah. Just fire off as many techniques as you can. If you run out of mana, fight the old fashion way until it replenishes."

Riku chuckled lightly. "That's the best you can come up with?"

"Hey! At least I know it works!" argued Sora.

"C'mon, Sora. Why don't we fight these things together?" suggested Riku. He titled his head towards Sora and smirked. "We can give them a session."

Sora immediately turned to face Riku. "Huh? A _session?_ You don't mean…"

Riku continued smirking. "That's exactly what I mean."

After a moment, Sora nodded firmly. "Okay. We'll do it together."

The two best friends raised their left arms and lightly jostled them together. As the unstable Heartless fiends slowly inched nearer, the two friends stood back-to-back with their Keyblades at the ready. Bright auras erupted from the two friends—Sora emitting a golden light and Riku emitting a blue light.

"_Eternal Session!_" they cried out in unison, unleashing the most powerful technique in their arsenal.

It started as a barrage of powerful Keyblade swings. From there, the two friends jumped high into the air and pummeled their foes with relentless waves of dark fireballs. The massive spheres of dark flames were fired at such an extraordinary rate that the Heartless could do nothing in defense. The intense rain did nothing to quell the ravaging flames, and the Heartless were soon enveloped in puffs of heated smoke.

Sora and Riku slowly descended, but their feet did not touch the ground. Their auras created a field to propel the two into a constant hovering state. Having ceased their assault of flames, the two wasted no time in summoning their Keyblades once more. Still back-to-back, Sora and Riku slammed their Keyblades together, forcing the two blades to weld into one giant, pulsating saber. The grand saber slashed into the unstable Heartless, mercilessly hacking away entire clumps of matter.

After a few mighty swings, the saber dissolved into two separate Keyblades once more. The swordplay did not cease, however. Thirteen golden swords beamed into view and encircled the two friends. The swords spiraled rapidly around the two friends, effectively creating a giant buzz saw. Puddles of Heartless matter splattered everywhere and were immediately diluted by the pouring rain. When the thirteen blades were finished, the unstable Heartless had been sufficiently chopped in half.

The thirteen blades dissipated, and the two best friends touched ground. They each sprinted forward—Sora to the right and Riku to the left. Their Keyblades were gripped in both hands, and seared along the ground as they ran. Not allowing either monster time to recover, both Sora and Riku snapped their blades against the unstable Heartless and slapped them high into the crying sky. The Keyblades soon followed as their wielders flung Ultima Weapon and Way to the Dawn on either side of the degraded blobs of darkness. Ultima Weapon shined bright with regal gold while Way to the Dawn beamed with brilliant blue. The two blades erupted powerful beams of light that showered the darkness.

That instant, the rain mixed with droplets of liquid darkness. The Keyblades drifted back to their wielders who gazed onwards with heads aimed at the heavens. The unstable masses of Heartless were no more, and relief immediately swelled over the two friends. They turned to each other with placid smiles and lightly bumped their fists together.

But their peace did not last for long. Piercing yellow eyes glared out from the puddles of diluted dark goo. Slowly, figures emerged from the puddles.

They had come. The shadows had come.

The Heartless were here, and that could only mean one thing: _The door had been opened_.

"Riku! Heartless!" shouted Sora. He desperately tried to hack away at the swarms of developing shadows.

"There are too many of them!" cried Riku. He and Sora were completely surrounded by shadows.

Dozens of hearts ballooned into the murky sky, vanishing behind patches of grey and black. Each time one Heartless was vanquished, another two would come as replacement. Soon, the shadows were joined by Neo-shadows, and not long after that, the largest shadow of them all appeared.

"Oh no…" Sora all but dropped his Keyblade in horror.

Riku took immediate notice of his friend's plight. "Sora! Why'd you stop?"

"It's…_Darkside_!" gasped Sora. He extended his pointer finger to the far edge of the roof where a mammoth hand had come to lie. It slowly pushed down, hoisting the dire shadow from behind to its full height. Now fully erect, the colossal shadow peered down at the warriors of light with piercing, demonic eyes peeking out from behind tangles of dark, snake-like coils.

Riku's jaw dropped. "Not good…" he muttered. "There's no way we can fight all of these alone!"

Sora shook his head. "We have to do our best 'til the cavalry arrives!" He took a swing at an incoming Neo-shadow, followed by another two swings at an evasive shadow.

"Speaking of the 'cavalry,' where are they?" cocked Riku. He dodged the mad swipes of shadows clawing at his legs and retaliated instantly with several fierce blows of the Keyblade.

Darkside's enormous hand hovered over the entire roof, threatening to come crashing down on the two friends. It began its slow decent, edging ever closer to its target. But before it could get anywhere near the roof, a flash of pure white boomeranged seemingly out of nowhere. It slammed into the giant hand, slapping it away instantly and then retreated from whence it came.

Sora turned to Riku and smiled widely. "They're closer than you think."

Lightning struck again, but this time, it was directed at the Heartless. The ring of shadows that had formed around the two friends exploded on contact. Amidst the ballooning hearts, the two friends swerved around and saw the origin of their aid.

What started out as six hands desperately trying to hoist their attached bodies onto the roof quickly formed into three familiar figures.

"Goofy! Donald!" exclaimed Sora. "And…Kairi…? Huh?"

Sure enough, there were Goofy, Donald, and Kairi, each jogging towards the Keyblade-wielding duo. Goofy with his trusty shield, Donald with his staff at the ready, and Kairi with a pure white Keyblade tipped with yellow and blue.

"Sora!"

Goofy and Donald all but jumped on their best buddy. The three musketeers were together again, and overly ecstatic to see each other. The King's trusted men lunged themselves forward into the Keyblade Master's welcoming arms.

"Guys! It's great to see you!" cried Sora. He held onto his two buddies, embracing them tightly.

"I don't mean to pry into your reunion, but we've still got Heartless to deal with," interrupted Riku.

"Oh, right," said Sora reluctantly. He pulled away from his buddies and gripped the Keyblade.

"Gawrsh, there sure are a lot of Heartless!" cried Goofy.

"Don't worry! We can beat 'em!" said Donald confidently.

"No, the Heartless aren't important," stated Kairi. She swung her Keyblade horizontally to emphasize her point.

"You're right," agreed Sora. "The door—we have to close it!"

Kairi nodded. "Once we close the door, the Heartless should leave this place."

"Even if we didn't have Darkside breathing down our necks, we'd need to know where the door is first," replied Riku.

Sora thought for a moment. He turned to Goofy and Donald. "Hey, guys? Do you know where the door might be?"

Goofy and Donald glanced at each other and shook their heads.

"Sorry, Sora," apologized Donald solemnly.

"But ya know what? I bet the King'll know!" added Goofy.

Sora nodded. "Yeah! All we have to do is—"

"Whoa, heads up!" cried Riku. He motioned his head upwards where Darkside's hand was yet again hovering. All five friends raised their weapons preparing to strike, when a sudden burst of light engulfed Darkside whole. The colossal Heartless dispersed, leaving behind a giant heart ballooning to the heavens.

"Gosh, gang. Sorry I'm late!" King Mickey hopped onto the roof and sprinted towards the cluster of friends, batting away several shadows in the process.

"Your Majesty!" called out Sora. "What took you so long?"

"There's no time to explain right now, Sora. We have to get to the Cornerstone of Light," he urged. "That's where the door is!"

"If that's the case, why didn't you go there first?" inquired Riku.

"By the time I realized someone had opened the door, there were already too many Heartless for me to take on by myself," the King explained. "Now come on! We have to hurry!" With that, the King jumped off the roof, smacked aside several Neo-shadows, and made a mad dash back into town.

The five friends quickly followed the King's lead.

* * *

The six warriors of light fought long and hard, gradually inching themselves towards the castle. The Heartless had amassed in ridiculous amounts, flooding the streets with pure darkness.

"There're too many of 'em! We'll never get there quick enough!" hollered Goofy.

"Goofy's got a point, gang," agreed King Mickey. He struck away several more Heartless and turned to Sora. "If we play our cards right, then one of us should be able to get there in no time. Sora, we're going to clear a path for ya!"

"Huh? For me?" Sora asked bewildered. "But shouldn't you go, Your Majesty? I should be the one clearing a path for you!"

King Mickey shook his head. "You're the best one suited for the job, Sora. I'm afraid I don't have the proper abilities to get me there fast enough."

Sora nodded. "I understand."

"Everyone, listen up! We're gonna clear a path for Sora!" hollered the King. He waved his gold and silver Keyblade wildly in the air. "Do what you've gotta do to make sure he gets there!" With that order, Donald and Goofy saluted at once. They rushed over to Sora, plowing a path through the shadows.

Sora reached out his hand towards Donald. "Donald, we need to drive!"

Donald nodded and grabbed hold of Sora's outstretched hand. The two friends resonated with blue light. A blinding flash of light shot out, and when it died down, Donald had vanished. Sora was now dressed in blue attire and his feet hovered lightly above the ground.

"Sora! We've got your back!" shouted Riku as Way to the Dawn whizzed past Sora, clearing him a path through the endless sea of Heartless. "Keep moving!"

"Don't worry, Sora! Just believe in yourself, and you'll be all right!" added Kairi. She drove Oathkeeper into a patch of shadows and quickly dispersed them.

Sora nodded in response and immediately bolted towards the castle. His merge with Donald gave him enhanced speed. He skated along the frictionless street, Goofy trying desperately to keep up.

Eventually, Sora reached the castle gates. At that precise moment, his energy gave out and he reverted to his normal form. Donald reappeared and hopped to his feet.

"You okay, Donald?" asked Sora.

"Never better!" quacked the duck.

Sora nodded and took a glance around his surroundings. There were no Heartless, but he was dead sure he'd find some beyond the gate. They'd be swarming to get to the heart of the world. "Oh no! I just thought of something!" he exclaimed, quickly jerking his head towards Donald. "The Queen! What about the Queen?"

"Ack! You're right! We have to see if Her Majesty is okay!" exclaimed Donald.

"Hey, guys! Wait fer me!" cried Goofy. He finally managed to catch up.

Sora turned to face his comrades. "Guys, I'll head for the Hall of the Cornerstone. You two should go check up on the Queen. Make sure she's okay."

"You can count on us!" said Donald with a confident nod.

"Gawrsh, Sora… We'd hate ta leave ya," said Goofy.

"No worries, guys. Everything will be okay," assured Sora. He then swung open the gates and reeled in horror at the sight before him.

He was right about the Heartless. They were _everywhere_.

* * *

**Endnotes:** The word "mana" will be used throughout the story to describe the magical force within each person. I'm using this instead of the abbreviated form of magic points (MP).


	9. Chapter 9: The Door

**Notes:** Not that it matters much for this chapter, but I went back and edited the previous chapter to remove the boldface from the battle cries.

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Door  
**

The castle courtyard was rimmed with pools of darkness. Yellow eyes peered from the dark patches that surfaced along the artistic landscaping. Shadows sprang from the burgeoning darkness, madly flailing their claws at the Keyblade Master and his comrades.

The three buddies nodded to each other, silently conveying their battle strategy. Without a moment's hesitation, they dashed into the courtyard with weapons at the ready. Goofy's shield careened through the air, Donald's spells rained from the heavens, and Sora's Keyblade slammed into the darkness. They fought the endless sea of shadows with everything in their arsenal, slowly inching towards the castle entrance.

The persisting battle had finally taken its toll on Sora, however. After unleashing numerous techniques, spells, and drives to fight hordes of skeletons, experimental Heartless, and shadows, the Keyblade Master could no longer endure. He planted the Keyblade firmly in the ground, using it as a crutch. His hands slid down the hilt of the blade and he collapsed to his knees gasping heavily for air.

"Huh?" The sound of Sora's heavy breathing caught hold of Goofy's ears. He immediately glanced over in the Key bearer's direction only to see a cluster of shadows encircling the fallen warrior. "Sora! Watch out!" Goofy flicked his silver disk towards the gathering of Heartless and dispersed them upon contact. He charged forward and grabbed hold of his buddy's arm. "Sora, hey! Can ya hear me? Get up!"

"Goofy…I'm…can't…ugh…" Sora wheezed. He broke into a coughing fit and sank even lower to the ground. More Heartless appeared but were quickly batted away by Goofy's shield.

His grasp still firm on his weakening comrade, the royal knight peered up and scoped the battlefield. He eventually spotted Donald busily whacking away Heartless with lightning bolts and called out to him. "Donald! C'mere, quick!"

The royal magician immediately swung around and caught sight of his companions in dire need of aid. "I'm coming!" he hollered as he plowed through the field of Heartless, occasionally throwing out a fireball or two. When he arrived, he jumped clear out of his hat. "Ack! What happened?!"

Sora slowly tilted his head upwards. He raised his droopy eyes and revealed the dark circles around them. "T-tired…" he panted. His head sank once more.

"Goofy, quick! Give me an Ether!" cried Donald.

"Right!" Goofy fished around his pockets. "Now where did I put m'recovery items…?"

"Hurry!!" quacked Donald, jumping up and down in an impatient frenzy.

"Aha! Gotcha!" exclaimed Goofy triumphantly. He yanked out a light green bottle from his black vest pocket and forked it over to Donald.

The magician swiftly took the bottle, uncapped it, and downed its contents. Thrusting his staff high above his head, he yelled, "_STOP!_"

All motion on the field had instantly ceased. Heartless were frozen in midair with their claws extended. Others were positioned like statues in different posses all across the courtyard. Some were even caught emerging from the darkness.

"Gawrsh, Donald! Why didn't ya do that before?" asked Goofy, slightly agitated.

"Heheh…I, uh, forgot," Donald laughed nervously.

Goofy shook his head in disbelief. He was about to reply when he felt Sora struggle to move. "Hang on, Sora. I'll help ya up." Goofy wasted no time in helping his buddy to his feet. Sora slid his arm around Goofy's shoulders and leaned on him for support.

"We've gotta move fast. The spell won't last much longer," Donald explained.

Goofy nodded and began dragging Sora around the frozen Heartless to the castle entrance. Once inside, the trio made a beeline for the King's study. A magical barrier surrounded the study and protected the room from the Heartless, thus making it a safe haven. Goofy eased Sora into the King's chair while Donald bolted the door shut behind them. The Keyblade Master sank into the cushioned seat and immediately nodded off still breathing heavily.

"Say, Donald? Can ya cure him?" Goofy inquired.

"Yeah. Give me another Ether," replied the magician.

"Hmm…" Goofy furrowed his brows while digging into his pockets. "Don't know if I have anymore, to tell the truth." He stuck out his tongue in concentration while he continued to probe his dozen pockets. His eyes lit up when his fingers brushed along the surface of a bottle in his back pocket. "Eureka!" he exclaimed, producing another light green bottle.

After downing the bitter liquid, Donald tapped his staff on Sora's shoulder and murmured, "_Cure!_" Sora's body emitted a green glow and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Ugh…where am I?" he groaned.

"The King's study," replied Goofy. "Should be safe here for a bit."

"You'll be okay once you've rested, Sora," said Donald. "Curaga can't heal everything. You need to take it easy."

Sora shook his head to clear his foggy vision. He blinked a few times and then looked at his buddies. "But I don't have time to rest! I've gotta close the door! The King's counting on me!" he argued.

"Uh-uh. You'll burn yourself out if ya go now," stated Goofy.

Sora jumped up from his seat. "Riku, the King, and even _Kairi_ are out there fighting. They cleared a path for me! I've gotta keep going, guys! You know I have to!" He summoned forth the Ultima Weapon Keyblade and held it out firmly. "I have to close the door. Once I do that, I'll rest. Okay?"

Donald and Goofy glanced at each other worriedly. They both let out a sigh.

"You're right… But we're just worried about ya," said Goofy.

Sora nodded. "I know you're worried, and I appreciate it. But we've got a job to do. I promise I won't do anything too extreme, so you don't have to worry too much. They're just shadows, after all."

Donald tapped his foot agitatedly. "At least get rid of Ultima Weapon!" he exclaimed. "It hastens mana recovery by pumping extra amounts into your system. Too much mana's taxing on the body!"

Sora grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh yeah… I forgot about that." He reached into his pouch and produced the silver keychain crafted in the King's image. He unclasped the Ultima keychain and replaced it with the new one, resulting in the blade's transformation. The silver and gold Kingdom Key was once again in Sora's clutch. "Ha, ha. No wonder I was so tired!"

"_Aaaaahhh!!_"

The three comrades jumped at the deafening scream echoing from above.

"That's Queen Minnie!" exclaimed Donald.

"Guys, you go find the Queen!" ordered Sora. "I have to lock the Keyhole!"

"But we can't just leave ya like this!" exclaimed Goofy.

"And we can't leave the Queen alone with the Heartless, either!" contended Sora.

Goofy shot a fretful glance between Sora and the door.

"Relax, I'll be fine!" assured Sora. He slashed the Keyblade in the air several times and rested it on his shoulder grinning.

Goofy was hesitant, but there came another scream. "Oh…all right!" he finally agreed, Donald silently nodding with him in a huff.

Both Donald and Goofy reluctantly bolted out the door, shouting back, "Be careful, Sora!"

Now alone, the Keyblade Master took in a deep breath, filling his lungs to the max. He slowly exhaled and the façade he donned for his friends melted. His body felt like it weighed a ton and he was horribly drowsy, but he knew he had to persevere for just a little longer. He fought the urge to slouch and straightened himself, gripping the Keyblade tightly. His eyelids were droopy, but he blinked them a few times and forced them to open wide.

Taking in one last deep breath, Sora charged out into the hall where Heartless had begun to accumulate once again. His legs felt like jelly, but he willed them to be strong as steel. He slashed his way to the Throne Room, where he burst through the solid white door only to be confronted with Heartless as far as the eye could see. The Throne Room was very large, and the entrance to the Hall of the Cornerstone was quite a ways from the door. The Heartless covered practically every square inch.

Faintly recalling the spell shouted by Donald out in the courtyard, Sora held up his Keyblade and hoped it would work again. "_Stop!_" he shouted, and instantly the shadows froze. The Keyblade Master was more distressed than relieved, however. The sheer strength required to stop all of the Heartless took an enormous toll on his body. He trudged along the red carpet, dragging the Keyblade and circumventing the statue-still Heartless. He eventually reached the throne, panting heavily. Taking a deep breath, Sora slid aside the throne to reveal a set of pure white stairs.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about surprise skeletons…" he mumbled as he took the first step. Sora's legs were starting to feel wobbly again as he progressed down the stairs. His knees suddenly buckled and sent him tumbling down the remainder of steps. Sora landed flat on his face with a thud and began to zone out of consciousness.

"No, I've got to keep going. I made a promise long ago… I won't stop until the Heartless are all gone!" Gritting his teeth, he drove his palms onto the ground and forced himself to his feet. Holding his head, he swayed to and fro for an instant. He finally steadied himself and continued on his path. "I won't let this world and its people disappear!"

Finally arriving in the Hall of the Cornerstone, the Keyblade Master took immediate notice of the giant orb in the center of the room. The once brilliant white light flowing out of the Cornerstone was now tainted black with darkness. It pulsated with a black and dark purple aura that fed off into the mahogany door suspended above it.

"The door!" exclaimed Sora.

"Ding, ding, ding! That's _riiiight!_" chortled an all too familiar voice.

Sora jerked his head upwards where he saw the simian mad doctor suspended from a beam by his feet. "Dr. Frankenollie!"

"Oh, good show!" cried the mad doctor, clapping his hands wildly. He flopped down and landed atop the tainted sphere, grinning insanely as the light bulb on his head blinked.

"I'm here to lock the Keyhole, so get out of my way!" spat Sora.

The doctor did not answer. He merely stuck his black, rubber-gloved hand into his lab coat pocket and produced a silver, rectangular object with various buttons scattered along its face.

"What's that?" demanded Sora.

"Oh, I'm _so_ glad you're taking interest in the scientific process!" scoffed the mad monkey. He raised a finger to a large, red button but refrained from pushing it just yet. "Tell me, O Mighty Key Bearer! Have you any idea what sort of wires I implanted into this fine Cornerstone?"

"Sorry, my mind can't process insanity," retorted Sora. "Not that it matters. The door's here now, and I'm going to close it!"

"Gwahahaha!!" Dr. Frankenollie broke into hysterics. "You think…haha…that this is…whahaha…about this puny, pathetic door…? Gwahahaha!!"

"Stop laughing and get down here!" roared Sora. His patience was wearing thin and his drowsiness threatened to overtake him.

The simian doctor ceased laughing and shrugged. "Well, telling never beats showing, now does it?" he cocked. His finger jammed on the red button and he started on another fit of insane hysterics. The darkness swelling within the Cornerstone partially subsided. White light mixed with black darkness as the two swirled in perpetual motion within the orb. The entire room began to quake and the mahogany door vanished.

"What's going on? What did you do?" demanded Sora.

Dr. Frankenollie took control of his breathing, quelling his laughter. He cocked his head at the bewildered Keyblade Master and snorted, "So _now_ you're taking an interest, hmm?" He held up the device in his hand. "This little beauty controls the levels of darkness being pumped into the Cornerstone. When I went back in time, I reconfigured the stand used to prop up the Cornerstone so it would be compatible with my equipment back home. During one of my midnight trips to the castle, I extended several delightful wires and pumps into the base of the Cornerstone, whereby I could transfer Heartless matter directly into the giant orb of light! Genius, isn't it?! Wahahaha!!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" cried Sora. "Why would you do that? Just to experiment on the world's door?"

"At first, yes," replied that mad monkey. "But as I continued to study Ansem's research, I found a most interesting piece of information." He smiled devilishly. "I read about a _door_. Not just _any_ door, mind you—but the grandest door of them all! The door leading to the heart of all worlds!"

Sora jumped. "Kingdom Hearts!"

"That's riiiiight!" whooped the doctor. His light bulb was flashing rapidly.

"But that's not possible!" Sora shouted in an uproar. The room was quaking even more violently now as the powers of light and darkness continued to swirl within the giant orb.

"Anything's possible with science!" howled Dr. Frankenollie. "I hypothesized if you create a _perfect_ balance between light and darkness, you can summon forth the door! It would be drawn to the equilibrium like a magnet!"

"So that's why you used the Cornerstone?"

"Yes!! It's the _perfect_ source of pure light!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a test tube containing dark, sludgy liquid, and twirled it around. "Combined with the purest darkness, it's enough to open the door! Wahahaha!"

Sora had heard enough. He wasn't about to allow this crazy primate to call forth the door to Kingdom Hearts! He pushed back all sensations of weariness and lunged out at the doctor. He tackled Frankenollie clear off the Cornerstone and pinned him to the ground. Pointing the Keyblade at the doctor's throat, he yelled, "Stop the procedure!" The doctor merely cackled.

Before Sora could act again, a violent tremor surged through the hall and knocked the Keyblade Master onto his back. Golden light erupted from the Cornerstone and flooded the room. Two large, pure white doors topped with stained glass materialized above the swirling orb.

"HAHAHAHA!!" boomed the mad doctor. He flailed his hands up hysterically. "I've done it!! _I've done it!!_ Kingdom Hearts is mine!" Dr. Frankenollie got to his feet and hobbled to the grand, pristine doors. "Just think of all the experiments I can conduct!"

Sora groaned and lifted his head. He sat up and glanced around, immediately catching sight of the mad doctor reaching out for the doors. "Dr. Frankenollie, no!" he called out. But again, it was too late. Frankenollie had jerked open the doors and stood transfixed at the sight before him. Darkness as far as the eye could see. Shadows in the distance slowly gained shape and presented themselves as Heartless. They edged closer to the open door and sucked in Dr. Frankenollie. Sora watched in horror as the mad doctor was dragged through the door, chuckling insanely.

Stumbling to his feet, Sora jolted towards the door. He slid to a sudden stop and froze. He wanted to close the door before any of the Heartless could escape, but the sight before him was nothing short of overwhelming. The Heartless were being drawn into Dr. Frankenollie and started to merge with his body. The doctor soon grew ten times his normal size. His now demon-yellow eyes fell on the stunned Keyblade Master. The monkey-Heartless hybrid slowly marched towards the door, consuming more shadows and booming with laughter.

Sora took several hesitant steps backwards as the behemoth primate loomed nearer. A large fist shot out and struck the Key Bearer, sending him crashing into a far away wall. He really couldn't take a beating right now. His body was just too tired… Try as he might, Sora couldn't find the energy to lift himself to his feet. Another roar of laughter rang through the hall as the giant monkey bent forwards out of the door and stomped towards his prey. The doctor was so large that his head skimmed along the ceiling of the hall.

"First I'll test the limitations of my new body, then I'll drag you back to my lab for experimentations!" boomed the colossal, darkened monkey. He reached over with his thumb and index finger, roughly lifting Sora off the ground up to his face. Sora slowly opened his eyes. "Why, hello there, Sleeping Beauty!" chortled the mad monkey. He shook Sora up and down vigorously and then effortlessly tossed him against another wall.

"What's the matter, O Mighty Warrior of Light? Too scared of the dark to fight back?" taunted the deranged doctor. He turned back to the two white doors where Heartless were inching their way forwards to the exit. "Hmm… I don't want the Heartless in here just yet. They'll make this world vanish along with my lab, and I can't have that." Resting his enormous palm along the open doors, he firmly pressed them shut. "But when I'm through experimenting with the Keyblade, I'll have _lots_ to do with the Heartless!" The lunatic doctor started listing off experiments with glee.

Meanwhile, Sora was lying flat on the floor. His vision was horribly blurry and his body felt like a ton of bricks. He began zoning in and out of consciousness, but resisted. "I…I can't give up…" he breathed, slowly rolling his hand into a fist. "I-I've gotta keep going… They're all counting on me!"

He took in a long, deep breath, closing his eyes tightly. As he exhaled, he shot open his eyes. Although his vision wasn't completely crisp, he caught sight of something peculiar near the Cornerstone. Struggling to his feet, he gradually swayed over to the wires protruding from the base of the Cornerstone and collapsed atop them. With his last reserve of energy, Sora gripped the wires tightly and tore them out of the base. Instantly, the swirls of darkness dissolved from the orb, leaving behind pure white light.

The mammoth monkey immediately noticed the change in atmosphere. His thoughts of future experiments crumbled as he shot his head towards the Cornerstone of Light. "Nooo!!" he roared. The maniacal giant stomped towards Sora, malice surging in his eyes.

Sora collapsed and lost consciousness. The hand previously on the wires slipped feebly and came to rest on the Cornerstone.

"_Sora! Don't give up!_"

Those words spoken by a foreign, yet familiar voice echoed ominously through Sora's mind.

A burst of light suddenly erupted from the Cornerstone and channeled into the Keyblade Master. His body levitated above the ground and his magical clothes flashed bright white. When the light dispersed, Sora's black attire was swapped for that of a silvery white tone with black highlights. His eyes instantly shot open and he tilted his body upright, feeling completely rejuvenated. Two Keyblades materialized before either hand, floating in midair like their wielder. One was the familiar silver and gold Kingdom Key. The other was silver and black, with checkers running along the hilt, spikes jetting out of the blade, and a silver keychain resembling a four-pointed star. It was the Two Across—the Keyblade given to Sora by his Nobody, Roxas.

Still levitating in the air, Sora willed his Keyblades into an offensive stance. "Sorry, Frankenollie! Looks like this experiment's a flop!" he roared. The Keyblade Master flung himself at the mammoth monkey and hammered down his Keyblades relentlessly. The doctor could do little to resist the onslaught and eventually crashed to the ground. He was a scientist and not a fighter, after all!

The two Keyblades hovered above the doctor. With a flick of Sora's wrist, they began to spin rapidly in circles, pummeling away at the mass of darkness. The mammoth monkey let out a roaring howl as a portal of darkness tore open above and his body. It immediately sucked him in while he was screeching and clawing at the ground in desperation. The portal sealed and Sora's blades returned to him. He swerved around to face the white doors. Aiming his Keyblades forward, he hollered, "Kingdom Hearts…is _light!_" Bright, white light shot out of both blades and pounded into the doors. Engulfed by the light, they slowly faded.

Sora sighed in relief. He closed his eyes and released the surge of power flowing through his body. He touched back down to the ground, his clothes transforming back to their original state and the Keyblades vanishing in white light. Sora fell to his knees and collapsed, the weariness from before resurfacing and consuming him. He drifted into a sweet slumber free of worries.


	10. Chapter 10: Dominos

**Notes:** I deeply apologize for the lateness of this chapter. It was _immensely_ difficult to articulate due to its importance. This chapter basically sets the stage for the rest of the story and I had to make sure it was as close to perfection as possible. In addition, you'll notice this chapter is _very long_. There's a lot here, folks, so reading it in shifts might be a good idea.

Veteran readers will notice this chapter has a name attached. I have started to do this because I realized the story's plot will start to become more complex from this point on, and naming the chapters will help me focus on the true importance of each chapter. It forces me to ask: what is this chapter really about and why is it important? I've also gone back to name the previous nine chapters.

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim ownership over Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy. Characters and locations are copyrighted property and trademarks of Square Enix and Disney.

Anyway, without further adieu, the chapter:

* * *

**Chapter 10: Dominos**

"Aside from that, I wasn't able to determine much else," Riku concluded after providing a fully detailed summary of his experience at Dr. Frankenollie's lab. He along with King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi sat to discuss the recent events that unfolded in Disney Town. They were seated around a large, circular marble table in a brightly illuminated white conference room where red banners lined with gold and imprinted with the King's seal draped along the walls.

"I see… So Dr. Frankenollie's to blame," the King reiterated. He furrowed his brows and fell into deep thought.

"Gawrsh! But how'd he manage to break into the lower levels of the castle?" questioned Goofy. "They're supposed ta be a secret! No one knows about 'em 'cept for the King, the Queen, Daisy, Donald, and myself! The door's even hidden, so you'd hafta know exactly where it is to find it."

"Not only that, but you have to know the password to get through the final door," added Donald.

Riku shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know. He wasn't exactly specific with his rants. I couldn't even understand half of what he was saying. Sora's the one who made any sense of it."

The King lifted his gaze. "That means we have a security breach, gang. Looks like someone else knows about the Vault."

"The Vault?" questioned Riku.

"Yep! Vault Disney!" chimed Goofy. "It's on the lowest level."

"We store everything from important documents to artifacts in the Vault," Donald explained.

"That's where I deposited all of Ansem's Reports," added the King.

"Your Majesty, I think you should check the Vault and see if anything else is missing," the Princess of Heart finally spoke. All eyes fell on Kairi. "Think about it—if you were in a room filled with priceless artifacts and valuable documents, would you only settle on a stack of reports? Not to mention Pluto followed Dr. Frankenollie into town a total of three times before he was finally captured. It's possible the doctor raided the Vault more than once."

"That's a very good point, Kairi," King Mickey nodded in agreement. "I'll do just that." He glanced at Riku, Donald, and Goofy. "While I go check on the Vault, I want the three of you to return to Dr. Frankenollie's lab and retrieve the reports along with anything else that looks suspicious or important. Be on the look out for any clues pertaining to his plans or the accomplice who helped him break into the castle. And since you'll be running through town, do me a favor and assist in any way that you can. Goofy, call the royal guards while you're at it."

Donald and Goofy sprung from the seats and saluted. "Yes, Your Majesty!" they said in unison. Relaxing their postures, they dashed out the door. Riku lingered behind, however.

"Your Majesty, about Pluto…"

A glint of rage flickered behind King Mickey's tired, worn eyes. He clenched his fist tightly. "I know he's out there somewhere, Riku, and I'll find him," vowed the King, with a steady voice masking his frustration. "I know it in my heart. He's my best friend, after all."

Riku silently nodded. He pushed out of his seat and stood with eyes still on the King. "I'll help," he declared with cool determination. Without waiting for the King's reaction, he promptly swerved around and walked out the door, closing it gently behind him.

King Mickey's gaze lingered on the door and he allowed himself a small smile. He then turned his attention to Kairi, who sat with her eyes cast down and her brows furrowed. Her right hand caressed her chin as the other left hand cupped her elbow in support. "Kairi…" he spoke softly, urging her gently from her deep thoughts.

Kairi's head instantly snapped towards the interruption. "Hmm?" she questioned slightly dazed.

"The meeting's over, Kairi," the King informed her gently.

Raising an eyebrow, Kairi glanced around the table and noticed she and the King were the only two left in the room. She was so rooted in concentration that she failed to notice her surroundings prior to the King's wake-up call.

The King couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "What were ya thinking about so intently?" he asked.

The Princess hesitated. She didn't exactly know how to convey her feelings with words just yet. The feelings swirling within her heart were elusive. A deep sense of anxiety and a powerfully encrypted urgency pulsed with every heartbeat. "It's hard to explain, Your Majesty," she managed to finally confess.

"Hmm… Well, try your best to put it into words. Maybe I can help ya out," the King offered.

Kairi nodded and let out a deep breath. She slid her right arm to rest upon the other, folding them before her on the table. She spoke careful to craft her words with precision. "Your Majesty, I felt something when the storm struck." She paused to rest a hand on her heart then continued. "It was a strong feeling of incomprehensible anguish accompanied by…a vision."

"A vision? What kind?" questioned the King.

Kairi closed her eyes in an attempt to visualize the images that flashed before her earlier that day. "There was a cracked, golden crown atop a brilliantly crafted jewel-encrusted sword. Both were surrounded by an intense, blazing flame and chilling, jagged ice."

King Mickey went pale, and his already weary eyes weakened another notch.

"As quickly as it had come, the image dispersed," she continued. "It was replaced by a golden heart. It didn't last long, however. The heart cracked down the middle resulting in two less brilliant halves. The gold instantly drained from both pieces transforming their colors into black and white. The white half vanished, leaving its black counterpart all alone."

"I see…anything else?" inquired the King, deeply concerned and anxious.

The Princess immediately sensed the King's uneasiness within his tone. She gently opened her eyes, but the King had recomposed himself and eagerly awaited her reply.

There was a long pause. "Yes," she reluctantly admitted.

If the King was uncomfortable before, he was now painfully apprehensive to the point of fighting the urge to fidget in his seat.

Eyes closed once more, the Princess revealed the finale of her vision. "A lone figure walking along a seemingly endless road lined with various doors. It's the dead of night and everything is burdened with darkness." She paused, hesitant to relay the remaining description. "The figure blended in well with the dark surroundings. At first, I believed the road to be bare save for the rows of doors. However, a glint of gold flashed and I realized it came from a golden crown sitting atop the figure's head. It resembled the one from the first image in its design, although it held a brilliant shine and lacked the significant crack running along the side.

"The figure's features slowly came into better focus and I could tell it was a young man. Although I couldn't see his face, as he continued to walk, I noticed an item clenched in each of his hands. In his left, he held a small, yellow flower, while a silver avian-like pendant with outstretched wings dangled from a chain in his right."

If King Mickey drained of any more color, he'd be a walking ghost. "Is that everything?" he asked, trying his best to retain a firm tone.

Another pause. "No. Before the image faded, I heard a voice utter a strange phrase."

"A strange phrase? What did the voice say…?" questioned the King worriedly.

"_Novus Ordo Seclorum_," chanted the Princess.

That was not the answer the King had anticipated and instead of drowning in more anxiety was now perplexed. He paused for a moment to digest the information new information and then jumped from his seat with an outstretched hand extended to Kairi. "C'mon, Kairi. I want to show ya something provided it wasn't stolen."

Kairi flashed a puzzled look at the King as she too rose from her seat. "But Your Majesty, isn't the Vault a more pressing issue?"

"No worries," he smiled. "That's where we're headed!"

"But Your Majesty! I couldn't!" she protested. She didn't feel comfortable intruding in areas meant for only a privileged few.

The King chuckled lightly. "Nonsense! You, Riku, and Sora all have my trust. We're all in this together, after all."

Still a bit hesitant, Kairi reluctantly agreed. However, she did take to heart King Mickey's words. It was true: they were a team of trustworthy, reliable friends. After fending off the Heartless and Nobodies together, the six friends were more family than simply comrades in arms.

The King made his way to the door and turned the knob. He yanked open the door only to bump into a man who was positioned to knock.

"Gosh! Wasn't expecting that!" chuckled the King.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, Your Majesty!" quickly apologized the man.

Kairi peered over the King and saw a rather tall, slender man in a white lab coat. He had blond, spiky hair that stuck straight up, and he wore a pair of perfectly circular glasses slipping down his nose.

"Ha, ha. Don't worry about it," replied the King. "What can I do for ya, Cornelius?"

"Well, sir," Cornelius began. He pushed his glasses back up to his eyes and continued. "The conference was scheduled to start thirty minutes ago and your absence—"

"_Jumpin' Jiminy!_ I completely forgot!" blurted the King in a panic. He rushed back to the round table and pulled a piece of parchment and a quill pen from his back pocket. He scribbled down a hasty message while Kairi and Cornelius looked on quizzically. After penning his seal, the King rolled up the parchment and turned to Kairi. "Could ya take this to Queen for me, Kairi?" he asked extending out the parchment.

Slightly taken aback by the action, she hesitated before reaching out for the message. Her hand lingered momentarily before grasping the rolled up parchment. As her hand hovered before the parchment, Kairi searched the King's eyes. They were weary and fraught with despair in deep contrast to his outer energetic and unyielding disposition. The glance lasted but a second before the message was accepted into her grasp.

"Thanks!" Without allowing Kairi time to respond, the King flew out of the room.

"Wait, Your Majesty!" cried Cornelius as he darted after the King.

Left alone, Kairi sighed and slipped the parchment into her pocket. She ventured out of the room and wandered down the hall in search of the Queen.

* * *

_"Sora, you'll be the end of us both if you keep pulling stunts like that…"_

"Huh…? Who's there?" Sora slowly opened his eyes. He was greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling and skylight. It was a bright, sunny day from what he could judge of the brilliant blue sky beyond the glass-protected aperture. The sight spurred relief within Sora's heart. The storm was over and the world was still intact. He sighed contently and lifted his head, realizing he was in a bed with white, silk sheets wrapped loosely around him.

Propping himself up against his pillows, he took a glance around the room. It was pristine white and lined with several suits of armor whose helmets were crafted in the shape of Goofy's head. Each suit held a different shield and Sora immediately recognized them as the ones Goofy had collected during their journey together.

"Huh… I wonder where _Save the King_ is? The moogles would throw a fit if Goofy lost one of their finest crafted shields!" Sora silently chuckled to himself.

His eyes continued to wander around the room. There was nightstand on the side of the bed that held a single framed photo of a teenaged boy resembling Goofy, but with messier hair and a smile nowhere near as grand as the royal guard's. Adjacent from the bed was a workbench with several tools, rags, and cans of polish. To the far end of the room was a grand window peering out into the lush, green Disney Courtyard. Several portraits of Goofy in his knight's armor holding various weapons and shields adorned the walls.

"This is definitely Goofy's room," he thought. "He must've carried me here after I passed out…"

After having surveyed the entire room, Sora could not locate the voice that had awakened him. "I'm sure I heard a familiar voice…" he murmured. "Oh well. Maybe I was just dreaming?" He shook his head in disappointment and swung his legs to the side of the bed where his large, yellow shoes rested on the ground. Once buckling on his shoes, Sora hopped to his feet and stretched lazily.

"Ha, if Kairi saw me now, she'd probably call me a 'lazy bum'!" he thought with a smile. "Now that I'm completely reenergized, I should go see what the others are up to. Dr. Frankenollie may be gone, but Pluto's still missing! We've got to find him!"

Sora bolted out the door and down the hall. He wasn't exactly sure where to find his friends, so he thought to head to the King's study first. However, as he progressed through the unfamiliar hall, Sora realized he had no idea where he was in the vast castle. Dulling down his pace to a casual walk, he darted his head from wall to wall, door to door, and picture frame to picture frame. "Huh… where I am?" he wondered. The hall was adorned with rows of white, identical doors evenly spaced by portraits and paintings dangling on the walls. The occasional set of vases and busts marked the crossway of intersecting halls.

Sora continued to wander straight down the hall and pondered to himself if perhaps he should be daring and actually turn into another hall. "But then I might get even _more_ lost!" he huffed in response to his own thoughts. "It's times like these I wish I had a little map with some sort of Keyblade-like icon indicating my exact location…"

"Why a Keyblade icon?"

"Because I'm the Keyblade Master, of cour—Huh!?" Sora swerved around and saw…no one. "Oh man! Not again! Am I really hearing voices now?"

"Down here!" Sora instantly dropped his gaze to the floor where a rather jovial, little mouse with long, blond hair and a pair of goggles strapped to her forehead waved up at him intently. "Hi!"

"Oh! Hello, there!" said Sora. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and cracked a grin. "I'm sorry I didn't see you there…"

"That's okay," replied the mouse. "I don't really blame you considering the height difference." She took her hands out of her white lab coat pockets and gestured to Sora's height.

"Ha, ha. Yeah." Sora bent closer to the mouse and introduced himself. "Well, anyway, my name's Sora!"

"I'm Gadget! Nice to meet you, Sora," she said with a grand, enthusiastic smile. "So are you here for the Inventor's Conference too? Did you bring any conceptual designs for your proposed automatic mapping system?"

"Inventor's Conference?" Sora raised a brow. "Oh, no. I'm just looking for my friends and the King. I was joking about the map earlier."

"Oh, that's too bad," Gadget replied rather disappointedly. "I would have liked to work on the project with you. I always wanted to try creating some sort of global positioning system, but I never got around to it."

"Sorry, I'm not exactly the inventing type," Sora apologized, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, that's okay," replied Gadget, cheering up almost immediately. "So where are your friends, Sora?"

"I'm not exactly sure," he truthfully replied. "I've never been down this part of the castle and I've been wandering around without a clear sense of direction for a while now."

"Maybe I can help!" Gadget eagerly suggested.

"Could you?" inquired Sora hopefully.

"Of course!" she nodded with a grand smile that soon melted into a thoughtful frown. "But I must confess you'll have to help me before I can help you."

"Sure. I'll help you," agreed Sora. Even if he didn't require her aid in return, he'd still gladly lend a helping hand. It was against his nature to do anything to the contrary.

"Great! You see, I'm running a little late for the conference. Short legs don't carry very far very fast," she chuckled. Sora hummed in agreement. "Anyway, if you give me a lift to the conference room, you'll surely meet the King there! He's the one who called the conference in the first place."

"Wow, really? That's fantastic!" Sora jumped for joy. He extended an open palm to Gadget. "Here, hop on! I'll carry you where you need to go so long as you give me the directions."

"Gotcha!" replied Gadget as she leapt onto Sora's palm and scampered up to his shoulder.

Sora flexed his knees back upright and tilted his gaze to the friend sitting comfortably on his shoulder. "Which way?" he asked.

"Go to the next intersection and turn left," Gadget pointed. Sora nodded and walked briskly forwards, turning left as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

After several long minutes of turning into dozens of corridors and bustling through an equal amount of doors, Sora finally arrived in an area that looked strikingly familiar. He was walking along a red-carpeted colonnade overlooking the Disney Courtyard similar to the one leading to the Throne Room. Gadget motioned him to stop before two vast, cherry wood doors.

"Here we are!" she announced proudly. "The King should be right through here. I just hope we're not too late. I wouldn't want to interrupt anyone's presentation."

"Good point," Sora thoughtfully agreed. "Maybe we should knock first." He lifted a hand to the door and was about to knock when his name echoed through the colonnade.

"Sora!"

Sora turned to face the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Suddenly, King Mickey came into view.

"Your Majesty!" Sora ecstatically exclaimed. He threw his arms open and greeted the King in a quick embrace.

"Gosh, Sora! I'm glad to see you're okay," said the King in a hurry, yet still retaining his contentment. "You'll have to fill me in on the details of what happened. Right now I have a conference to attend, though."

"So I've heard," said Sora reaching over to Gadget. She took the cue to hop onto Sora's hand. "Mind taking her with you?"

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" chimed Gadget with her usual cheery smile.

"Hiya there, Gadget! Looks like I'm not the only one late, huh?" he chuckled, reaching his hand to scoop up the smaller mouse. He turned to Sora and gave him a nod. "See ya later!"

The King tugged open the door but didn't get his foot in before Sora urgently asked, "Wait, Your Majesty! Do you know where Riku and Kairi are?"

"Riku's gone to Dr. Frankenollie's lab with Donald and Goofy, and Kairi's delivering a message to the Queen." He jerked his head down the direction he had approached from previously. "Head down that hall and make a right, then make another right at the end of the next hall. That should get you to my study/library!" Without waiting for Sora's response, the King hurried through the door and nearly slammed it behind him.

"He sure was in a hurry…" Sora mused. "I didn't even get to say 'bye' to Gadget. Oh well…" He threw his hands casually behind his neck to cradle his head and proceeded down the hall. However, he halted for a second when there came the sounds of hurried footsteps and light panting. Cornelius shot down the hall and swung himself at the door.

"Pardon," he uttered while reaching for the handle. Sora swerved out of the way and allowed Cornelius to slip through the door noiselessly. The door closed behind him with a faint click.

Sora shrugged to himself and continued on his path. After rounding the corner he broke out into an ear-to-ear smile as his eyes focused on a familiar redhead in pink gradually shrinking down the colonnade. "Kairi!" he called, waving his hand enthusiastically in the air as he jogged towards her.

Shocked, Kairi immediately swung around. "Sora!" she cried cheerfully. Running to meet him part of the way, she was overjoyed to see him up and about so soon.

"So what did I miss?" he asked grinning and rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sora, you lazy bum! We had an entire meeting while you snoozed the day away!" Kairi scolded with a frown.

"I _knew_ you'd say that…" Sora mused, not buying her "I'm-mad-at-you-now-feel-my-fury" act.

Just as Sora had predicted, Kairi's frown melted into a warm smile. "I'm glad you're okay, Sora… You had us all worried when we first found you lying unconscious on the ground," she uttered in a hush, relieved tone.

Sora's smile fell. He didn't mean to worry his friends, only to protect them as well as the entire world from darkness. "Kairi, I—"

"Although…" she cut him off, knowing full well the Keyblade Master was taking it all to heart. "When you started snoring it was a whole different story!" Sora's smile rekindled as they both broke into laughter.

"Well, I couldn't help falling asleep! I was so tired after that long fight…" he forcefully yawned knowing he'd get another giggle out of her. She did in fact giggle, resulting in another shared chuckle for the two.

"So what happened, Sora?" she asked, relaxing her smile.

The Key Bearer threw back his hands to cradle his head and shrugged. "Oh, you know. The usual," he sighed. "Some crazy scientist experimented with the delicate balance between light and darkness, thus eventually summoning forth Kingdom Hearts."

"Kingdom Hearts?!" Kairi jumped, completely shocked at this new information.

"Don't worry, Kairi. I closed the door before any of the darkness could escape," Sora assured. He went on to explain all the events leading to Dr. Frankenollie's demise and the closing of Kingdom Hearts. All the while Kairi listened intently and paid close attention to every detail.

After Sora finished recounting his tale, he noticed Kairi had her eyes cast down while her right hand cupped as well as massaged her chin. He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it not wanting to disrupt Kairi's intent thoughts. However, as the minutes slipped by, the young Princess showed no signs of shifting from her position. Concerned, Sora opened his mouth again, but was abruptly cut off when his friend finally lifted her head and peered her amethyst eyes into his.

"Sora, this isn't over yet," the Princess spoke solemnly.

"Huh? What do you mean? Dr. Frankenollie is gone!" Sora protested.

Kairi firmly shook her head. "I doubt we've seen the last of him," she argued. "You said he disappeared into a dark portal, correct?" Sora nodded. "Did you summon that portal, Sora? From the way you explained the situation, it sounds to me like it appeared right before you were set to land the final blow."

"That's what usually happens to the enemies I defeat," the Keyblade Master contended.

Again, the Princess disapproved the warrior's logic with a shake of her head. "You also said the Heartless merged with him to the point where he himself became a towering ape-like Heartless," she stated. "Tell me, did a heart escape after his defeat?" Sora's eyes widened. "The Keyblade releases the trapped hearts within the Heartless. If he was truly gone, one or more hearts would have been freed."

"Y-you're right…" The Keyblade Master gasped. "How could I have been so stupid…?" He was ashamed of his own foolishness. Why didn't he realize it during the fight when he still retained that sudden burst of immense strength? He could have stopped Dr. Frankenollie by forcefully whacking him away from the portal. Instead, he allowed the mad monkey to escape, honestly believing himself to be the victor.

But was that really the case? Could his mind at the time really process Dr. Frankenollie's mock defeat, or did Sora simply act mechanically while running on reserve energy? Whatever the reason, it was his fault that the mad doctor escaped and now he'd have to track him down before other doors were threatened.

The Keyblade Master was abruptly yanked from his thoughts by two arms wrapped affectionately around his torso. He peered questionably over to Kairi, whose head rested on his shoulder.

"You'll have to go away again," she murmured knowingly.

"Kairi…" Sora cautiously lifted his arms and gently wrapped them around the body clinging to his. "I'm sorry. But it's my fault he escaped. I have to stop him before he finds another way to Kingdom Hearts!"

Kairi gently pulled away from Sora and trailed her hand into his. "Here," she said, pressing something into Sora's open palm. "Take this."

Baffled, Sora raised his hand to see a familiar yellow, star-shaped charm resting his grip. He quickly shot a troubled glance at Kairi. "But Kairi, this is your lucky charm!"

"That's precisely why I want you to take it," she replied. "Promise you'll bring it back to me…like the first time."

Sora shook his head. "I can't take this," he objected. "If I do, how will you summon the Keyblade?"

"Please, Sora," she pleaded. "I have a really bad feeling… You're going to leave this Castle, Sora. When you do, I feel as though I won't see you again for a very long time."

"Huh?" Sora was outright confused. It shouldn't take _that_ long to find a crazy monkey, right? Why was Kairi getting so worked up over this? "Kairi, what aren't you telling me?" he inquired worriedly.

The Princess of Heart sighed. "I had a vision," she confessed. "And ever since, my heart has felt a strange new burden—one that I can't explain using words quite yet. Trouble is brewing in the background, Sora. The King's eyes confirmed my suspicions when I spoke to him earlier. He's distraught over more than Pluto's disappearance, and I'm sure he understood the meaning behind my vision."

"Why hasn't he said anything?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Perhaps it's too difficult for him to say right now, or maybe he believes the stress he's under and the recent events are unrelated. Regardless, I don't have enough information to say what the exact situation is. I can only feel what my heart is telling me."

Without another word, Sora eased his fingers protectively around the charm in his palm silently accepting the pact. He flipped open the red pouch at his side and nestled the charm safely within it. When he retracted his hand, it was not bare. He clenched something tightly in his fist. "Give me your hand," he said quietly, finally looking back up at Kairi.

Although uncertain of Sora's intentions, she obliged. Sora took her hand in his and pressed the object he held into her grasp. Cradling her hand in both of his, he gently wound her fingers to close over the item and slowly pulled away his hands. "If you believe that strongly that something bad is going to happen, then I don't think one charm is going to be enough this time."

Kairi retracted her hand and held it at chest level. She reeled back her fingers and revealed a polished azure and gold heart-shaped keychain. Sora chuckled as he witnessed Kairi's expression transition from curiosity to awe and then to fretful reluctance. "Sora, I can't accept this!" she exclaimed. "This is your _Ultima Weapon!_"

"Exactly. It's a fair trade for your _Oathkeeper_, don't you think?" he grinned.

"But, Sora! This is one of your best Keyblades!" she protested. "By giving this to me, you'll be giving yourself a huge handicap!"

Sora chuckled. "Relax, Kairi." He smirked as he reached back into his pouch and pulled out a similar yet slightly larger azure heart. "See?" he said waving it up in the air. "I'll still have an Ultima Weapon."

Kairi was stunned. "You have two?" Sora nodded with a bright smile. "But how?"

Sora tossed the keychain back into his pouch and then brought his hands up to cradle the back of his head. "It's a funny story, actually," he beamed. Kairi was all ears. "It started when I woke up in Twilight Town. Still not too clear how I wound up there to begin with, though. I don't remember exactly when I went to sleep yet alone how I arrived in Twilight—Huh? Kairi, did you just twitch?"

"I'm sorry. I honestly don't know what came over me…" Kairi gasped, massaging her left temple. Her heart had fluttered suddenly at Sora's words resulting in an involuntary twitch of the left eye. "Really, Sora. I'm fine," she reiterated, as the young man across from her felt compelled to offer a stare so heavily concentrated with compassionate concern that it almost caused the Princess's heart to flutter again.

"You sure? Did you…have another vision?" he inquired cautiously.

"Honestly, Sora. You make it sound like I'm some sort of walking death omen!" she huffed teasingly. "It was nothing! Now continue with your story."

Sora grinned wildly. "Death omen, you say? Well now that you mention it—" Kairi's irritated glance abruptly ended that train of thought. "Ahem, _anyway_, I woke up in the Twilight Town mansion and rejoined Donald and Goofy. When we arrived in town, I performed a potion and ether inventory count. We were heading off on another quest and it would've been unwise to leave without visiting the local shops and restocking. Though when I reached into my pockets, they were completely empty! Sure, I didn't have any potions or the like, but I didn't have anything else either! All my munny, accessories, and keychains were gone! The only thing left on my person was your lucky charm, and thankfully I didn't lose that or else I'm pretty sure I would've lost my head soon after, too."

Kairi nodded sternly in complete agreement, earning a nervous laugh from her dear friend. She shot him a look that implied, "Not only your head, Sora. Not only your head…"

"Right, well," Sora gulped and cleared his throat. "After the Three Good Fairies conjured up some new magical attire for me, the next stop was Hollow Bastion. As soon as we arrived, I rushed to the local synthesis shop and begged the moogles to forge another Ultima Weapon keychain. I apologized a hundred times for having lost their brilliant creation and offered to hunt down the rarest items in all the worlds if only they'd create a new one. But the moogles merely laughed at me and said, 'Kupo! That old thing? Kid, we've had a whole year to perfect our skills since Ultima Weapon! Bring us a few dozen seemingly-impossible-and-non-existent items and we'll forge an Ultima Weapon so kupo it'll knock the hoods straight off those Organization guys! Kupopo!'"

Kairi couldn't help but giggle at Sora's moogle impression. He flexed his voice into a high-pitched squeak and accented each "kupo" just right. Were he not so tall, he could have easily strapped a red pompom to his head and passed for one of the mythical creatures.

"And so," continued Sora in his natural voice. "After acquiring ridiculous pieces of jewelry said to bring forth luck, pick-pocketing an unimaginable amount of Heartless and Nobodies, breaking into countless treasure chests that I innocently happened to find on the field, and hunting down the ever elusive vending-machine-like Bulky Vendor, I finally managed to accumulate all the materials necessary for a new Ultima Weapon."

"But Sora, that still doesn't explain why you have two," Kairi commented.

"Hang on, Kairi. I'm getting to that!" he replied. "The night we returned home to the island, I removed my clothes so I could take a shower before going to bed. When I took off my jacket, I noticed for the first time that I had an inside pocket! Eagerly unzipping it, I found it to be like my other pockets: bottomless.

"Curiosity got the better of me so I stuck my hand in and pulled out a very familiar sum of munny, several potions, an elixir, a camping set, some mystery goo, a thunder gem, and a Gaia Bangle. I instantly recognized these as the items from my first journey, so I plunged my hand deeper and fished out the remainder of goods I thought to be lost. Among them, of course, were all my keychains plus some sort of 'Champion Belt'. Really, you'd think I'd remember if I was declared the champion of something, like all those matches I fought at the Olympus Coliseum."

Sora's left eye suddenly twitched, earning a giggle from Kairi. "Now you're doing it," she teased.

"Hmm…weird," he murmured. He paused to think about it for a moment but decided it was best not to dwell on the matter. It was just a twitch after all. "Anyway, the Ultima Weapon I gave you is the one from my first journey, so you don't have to worry about a mana overdose if you use it too long like the one I'll be using. It really packs a punch, though. If you get into a rough situation, it'll cut a path for you. I guarantee it!"

Kairi gazed at the azure heart in her palm and smiled warmly. She lifted her eyes to meet Sora's and nodded her head firmly. "Thank you, Sora. I'll make sure to give this back to you," she vowed.

Sora mirrored Kairi's smile and echoed the words she once spoke to him, "Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."

"I know…" she whispered after tucking the azure keychain safely into her pocket. "Make sure you don't forget, either."

"I won't," he declared. A comfortable silence fell between the two until Sora pondered, "Say, weren't you on your way to see the Queen?"

Kairi nearly jumped. "Oh, that's right! I have to deliver a parchment to Queen Minnie!"

Sora chuckled lightly and began walking down the hall. "C'mon! Let's go!" Nodding, Kairi followed. "So what was your vision about?"

The two continued down the colonnade to the King's study.

"Well…"

* * *

Outside the walls of Disney Castle lay a cluster of debris and ruin. Aided by the endless sea of Heartless, the storm had successfully ravaged the once bustling town. The people who had withdrawn into buildings for shelter now flooded out into the streets to assess the damage. Families were nearing depression, contractors and franchise owners tore their hair out in frustration, and children innocently ran about the rubble playing games.

Chief O'Hara and his men were patrolling the streets helping people trapped under the debris, offering free foods and drinks, healing the wounded, and most importantly, working hard to prevent any uprisings.

"Chief! Chief!" cried one of the officers.

O'Hara was busy bandaging an old woman's hand and didn't bother to look at his officer. "What is it, lad?" he calmly asked in his thick, Irish accent.

"Chief! A fire's broken out in Main Street!" shouted the panicked officer.

"Well then put it out," he calmly replied, finishing his bandage job. "There ya go, ma'am. That should do it!"

"Thank you so much, dearie," thanked the old woman.

"But chief! It's so huge that the fire brigade's having a tough time controlling it!" urged the officer. "At the rate it's going, it's threatening to swallow the entire town!"

"Jumpin' jehosephat! Assemble as many of our boys as you can, lad! Get them all down there, quick!" ordered the chief.

"Yessir!" saluted the officer. He then ran down the street repeatedly shouting, "Fire! Fire! All officers report to Main Street!"

Chief O'Hara made a mad dash towards Main Street and was greeted with mighty, ravaging flames. Dozens of Dalmatians in thick yellow jackets and bright, red fire hats either held hoses to the flames or shoveled dirt hurriedly in an attempt to smother them. Without hesitation, the chief grabbed a spare shovel from one of the fire trucks and aided in the effort.

"Chief! Glad you could make it!" shouted one of the firefighters over the rapid torrent gushing out of the nearest fire hose. "We need all the help we can get!"

"Aye! Now let's all put our backs into it!" called O'Hara. The firefighter shot him a nod and returned his focus to shoveling.

The townspeople eventually joined the police and firefighters. Hauling buckets of water and dragging along their shovels, seemingly all the inhabitants of Disney World came together to help extinguish the flames threatening their home. Some people, however, lazily sat around laughing scornfully at the intensifying fire. The weasels had broken out of jail and took to scrounging around for abandoned valuables, all the while chanting a little tune as the watched the town burn.

"Disney Town's burning down!" they sang harmoniously.

"Goodbye, goodbye!" chimed the chorus of fellow jail escapees.

"Burning down to the ground!"

"Goodbye, Mickey Mouse!"

"Ain'tchya mighty sorry?"

"Goodbye, goodbye!"

"Ain'tchya mighty sorry?"

"Goodbye, Mickey Mouse!"

The weasels broke out into a fit of insane laughter before a flurry of fists came flying to break their noses.

"What was that about King Mickey?" roared Goofy. He hauled the weasels up into his firm grasp and glared them in the eyes.

"Oh snap! It's the Captain of the Guard!" cried Smarty Weasel, his fedora flying off from shock.

"Ya got that right!" growled Goofy before he tossed the weasels to the group of heavily armored royal knights behind him. "Take 'em away, fellas!"

Two of the five knights saluted and hauled the screeching, panicked weasels down the street and out of sight.

"The rest of you start shoveling!" ordered Goofy. The remaining three knights marched fearlessly into the flames with shovels at the ready.

"Looks like we came just in time," came a voice from behind Goofy. The Captain turned around and nodded firmly. "But you know… I don't think shovels and hoses are enough."

"Well, what do you propose we do, Riku?" asked the Captain.

The silver-haired youth summoned forth his Keyblade, smugly replying, "We fight fire…with magic." He turned his head slightly around at the sound of approaching, hurried footsteps. "Right, Donald?"

"Leave it to me!" quacked the Royal Magician. Lifting his staff in the air, Donald charged into the flames exclaiming, "_BLIZZARD!!_" Ice shot into the flames, slowly encasing them in a frosted prison.

"Everyone, stand back!" hollered Riku.

"Would ya look at that? The King's men are here! Hurrah!" joyfully cheered the firefighters.

Immediately, the townspeople cleared the area and watched from afar as Riku raised the Keyblade and hurdled it with impeccable force into the newly created towering icebergs. They erupted into millions of jagged pieces causing ice to rain over all the flames. Melting from the heat, the ice turned to water. Riku's synthetically created rain shower doused a good portion of the flames, and combined with Donald's relentless magic, the fire was completely extinguished within minutes.

Cheer and applause broke out amongst the crowd. "Hurray! They did it! Huzzah!" rang throughout the streets. A swarm of grateful townsfolk surrounded the three warriors. "Three cheers for the King's men! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"

"Thanks be to ye, lads. You did a fine job," cheered Chief O'Hara. "Now if you could perhaps spare some aid for cleaning up this mess…"

"Sorry, we don't have time," regretfully replied Donald.

"But don't worry! The royal guards are on the job!" assured Goofy. As if on cue, a battalion of armored knights marched down the street and joined their five comrades. Each knight wore a helmet crafted in Goofy's image and had a red sash imprinted with the King's seal draping across the breastplate. "Fellas, get to work!" ordered the Captain. The knights saluted and instantly dispersed into the town.

"Guys, come on," urged Riku. "We've gotta go." He nodded farewell to Chief O'Hara and ran off towards his destination.

"Gawrsh!" exclaimed Goofy, following Riku.

Donald laughed nervously at the chief and bolted after his friends. "Wait up!"

O'Hara gave a hearty chuckle and shook his head. "Those two are some of the hardest workin' folk in this world," he uttered proudly. He suddenly found himself surrounded by three of the King's knights. "Ah, good! Okay, lads, let's take a sweep around town!" instructed the chief. But the guards didn't respond. They merely stood there at attention in eerie silence. "Is something the matter?" A long pause followed the chief's voiced concern. Finally, the guards moved. They wordlessly raised their partisans and loomed closer to O'Hara.

"What's the meaning of this?" demanded the chief. No response came. Instead, the echo of clinking metal filled the air shortly accompanied by a lone scream.

* * *

Disney Castle possessed several conference rooms of varying sizes in order to accommodate just about any type of meeting. For example, a meeting of the finest musicians would likely convene in the Silly Symphony Conference Room where a grand theatre and every musical instrument imaginable were readily available. The room also came complete with both placid and angry music critics.

Currently, the room in use by the King was the Tomorrow Land Conference Room. The walls were lined with chalkboards, scientific formulas and blueprints encompassed the room, several counters held beakers, chemicals, wires, circuit boards, and tools ready for use, and a monitor hooked up to the castle's main computer server was easily accessible.

In the center of the rather vast room, rows of leather chairs were fashioned to face front where a single long, rectangular desk ran perpendicular to the two cherry wood doors. Cornelius, Gadget, and a couple of other inventors sat in their seats while King Mickey stood betwixt the rows of chairs and the desk.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone," he apologized while facing the gathering of inventors. "First, I'd like to thank you all for coming—Cornelius Robertson, Gadget Hackwrench, Gyro Gearloose, and Ludwig von Drake." He nodded to each of them. "As you all know, Disney Kingdom's been facing several issues since the attack of the Heartless and Nobodies. I've called a meeting of the four most brilliant and inventive scientific minds among the worlds to discuss two very pressing issues: The reconstruction of Disney Town and the castle's security." He paused momentarily and then asked, "Any questions so far?"

"I have one, Your Majesty," called Cornelius. He received a nod from the King and continued. "I wasn't aware of the second issue. The message you sent specifically states this meeting is strictly for the reconstruction project."

"That's true," replied the King. "However, recent events have brought to light possible future castle break-ins and I'd like to be prepared."

"Well, it's fortunate you should mention that, Your Majesty. I just so happen to have brought a prototype of my new security system," called a goose with red hair and spectacles.

"Wow, that's excellent, Gyro!" exclaimed the King. "Care to show a demonstration?"

"I'd be glad to!" Gyro stood from his seat and hauled a large cardboard box to the center floor. "Now remember," he said while folding open the box. "This is just a prototype." He pulled out several machinery white parts resembling a helmet with a visor, a TV screen with various buttons, a convex plate with a red "R" painted in the center, and a large, black rubber tire with two red rods jetting out from either side. "These are just some of the main components. When I've completed its construction, this nifty little gizmo will be a private security robot with all the latest gadgets to repel thieves, intruders, insurance salesmen, and other evil-doers!"

"Gosh, Gyro. Can ya show us an example of what it can do?" inquired the King with piqued interest.

"I haven't worked all the kinks out, but I'll give it a shot," replied Gyro enthusiastically as he reached for the helmet. "Not only will this _RoboDuck_—as I have affectionately come to call him—have super speed on the ground, but he'll also have airborne capabilities as I will demonstrate." He pushed a button on the side of the white helmet. A single red racing stripe running along the center of the helmet reeled back and a large strip of metal elevated from the now visible slot. The metal strip split in two and each half collapsed, creating a propeller that began to gradually spin.

"Now this here will allow RoboDuck to fly!" shouted Gyro over the roar of the whizzing propeller. He felt a sudden jerk in his hand, and before the helmet could fly off, he quickly pressed the switch again. The propeller immediately ceased, folded up into a single strip, and sank back into the helmet.

"Amazing!" applauded the King. "I can't wait to see the finished product."

"Thanks, Your Majesty," replied Gyro. "I'll take it back to my lab in Duckburg and get to work on it right away!"

"Oh, goose feathers!" mocked a duck with a thick German accent. "That hunk of junk is the best you can do, Gyro?"

"Darn it, Ludwig! Can't you go five minutes without criticizing my work?" huffed Gyro, irritably eyeing the grey-haired balding duck. "At least I _have_ a security robot prototype!

"Oh-ho, please! Prototypes are all fine and dandy, but I have an _actual_ functioning robot!" boasted Ludwig.

"The day you have a robot ready and raring to go is the day pigs fly!" retorted Gyro.

"Funny you should mention that! I have just invented a pig-flinging catapult this morning!" cocked Ludwig. "Like to take it for a test run?"

Steam shot out from Gyro's ears. "Ludwig, you—"

"Gee, fellas. I'm glad there's some healthy competition here, but couldya tone it down a bit?" interrupted the King before any more insults could go flying.

Ludwig turned to the King. "Your Majesty, please allow me to show you a _real _robot!"

"Well, I'd actually like to discuss other—"

"Oh-ho! Nonsense, Your Majesty!" interjected the competitive inventor. He jumped from his seat and pulled out a remote control with a large antenna and several dozen buttons scattered along its face. "Why settle for the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel? I'll give you the best security guard you could ever want!"

Professor Ludwig proudly pressed the giant, red button in the center of his remote control. Within seconds, a giant, cylindrical metal robot crashed through the door, sending wooden debris flying every which-way. It stomped across the room with heavily constrained, mechanical footsteps. The occasional cog or lug nut loosened and dropped to the floor with a _clink _until he finally came to rest beside the duckbilled professor.

"Ah, here he is!" Ludwig exclaimed. "I present to you: _Ludwig von Drake's Mechanical Man!_"

"Oh, _that's_ original," scoffed Gyro, rolling his eyes.

"We'll it's better than _RoboDuck!_ That pile of used trash looks more like a scrapheap than a duck!" huffed von Drake.

"Ludwig, please get to the point," urged the King impatiently.

"All right, all right! Sheesh, you don't have to be so fussy!" grumbled Ludwig, earning a groan from everyone in the room. "Anyway… My Mechanical Man is a four-time winning boxing champion, oh-ho! He just returned from his match against The Kongo Killer! You know what that means?" He paused, waiting for an answer that never came. "Oh, come now! It means he can pummel just about any evil-doer with his rock 'em, sock 'em techniques!"

"Care to demonstrate these 'rock 'em, sock 'em techniques', _Professor Nutwig?_" mocked Gyro.

"I'd be glad to!" boasted the professor confidently. "And let me tell you, he'll knock your toy propeller sky-high!" Ignoring Gyro's sarcastic groan, Professor Ludwig punched several blue, green, and red buttons on his remote. Instantly, the Mechanical Man raised his boxing gloved fists and pummeled them into the air. Another click of the remote steadily halted the robot's assault.

"Ho-ho! Try being on the receiving end of those punches! You'll be out for a week!" swaggered Ludwig. "And he's durable, too! You'd need a stick of dynamite just to make a dent, oh-ho!" He knocked his fist against the Mechanical Man's steel frame, loosening a plate in the process. Several gears and washers spilled from the exposed inner workings and clattered onto the floor. Steam shot out from the Mechanical Man's cylindrical head as he swerved around and punched Ludwig square in the beak, sending the professor flying into a chalkboard.

"Gosh, professor! Are you okay?" exclaimed the King.

"I guess your robot has a few screws loose, eh?" taunted Gyro as several more gears fell to the floor.

Professor von Drake groaned and shook his head. Gripping the remote tightly, he shot it up towards the Mechanical Man. "You crazy robot! You could've broken my head!" he shouted angrily. His index finger came crashing down on a large red button labeled "off," but that only caused more steam to fume from the robot's head. The central plate from the Mechanical Man's torso sprung out followed by a sputtering collection of lug nuts, bolts, and cogs.

"Oh no! My Mechanical Man!" Ludwig scrambled to his feet in a panic. Still clutching the remote, he frantically pushed an array of buttons hoping to quell his robot's massive breakdown. However, the Mechanical Man's actions became more sporadic. His entire torso spun around rapidly with his boxing-gloved hands fully extended. The seated inventors ducked behind their seats as nuts and bolts went flying all across the room.

Finally having run out of energy, the Mechanical Man faltered to a halt. The bolts lining his face popped out and his jaw came crashing to the ground. Not long after, the entire metal frame collapsed into a heaping pile of steaming steel scraps.

"How could this have happened?" cried the professor. He sunk to his knees beside his demolished creation and fought back the frustrated tears.

"It happens to the best of us, professor," offered Gadget. "What's important is to keep trying until you get it right!"

"Exactly. That's the beauty of inventing," added Cornelius. "Trial and error's half the fun! You just have to keep at it until it works without a hitch.

Ludwig sighed and shook his head. "Ha, ha. You're right!" He jumped to his feet with a grand smile. "Oh-ho! I'll just have to start from scratch!" he proclaimed.

"You mean start with a _prototype_," corrected Gyro.

"Oh shush, you!" grumbled von Drake.

"Well, gee fellas! I'm glad you could all reach an understanding," said the King. "Input from your peers is very important."

"Indeed it is," nodded Ludwig.

"Right—" began the King softly, but was immediately cut off.

"Even if it comes from your rivals," added Gyro.

"Yeah, that's great but—"

"The only way to improve is to keep moving forward," Cornelius asserted.

"True, true. So listen—"

"Sometimes you just have to look at the problem from a different perspective," Gadget explained.

"Ha, ha, yeah…" chuckled the King nervously. He sighed as the four inventors shared a good laugh. "Say, fellas? I don't mean to interrupt the laughter or anything, but can someone please get me down from here?!" He was pinned upside-down to the wall by several stray bolts.

"Oh! We're terribly sorry, Your Majesty!" they all exclaimed.

After finally setting foot on the ground again, the King brushed himself off and cleared his throat. "Well, that was an…_interesting_ display to say the least," he said while irritably eyeing Professor Ludwig. Finally relaxing his gaze, the King continued. "Anyway, let's get back on track. We'll switch gears to the restoration project."

King Mickey reached into his back pocket and produced a small remote. Pressing a button, he dimmed the lights in the room and simultaneously activated a large, plasma screen monitor on the farthest wall. Within seconds, an image flickered onto the screen displaying an overhead view of Disney Town.

"This here's the present state of the town," explained the King. He pressed another button on his remote, signaling the start of a slide show. "As you can see, corrupt business entrepreneurs have transformed this once humble town into a commercial disaster."

Images depicting the contrast between the "before" and "after" effects of the town's recent development flashed one by one onto the screen. Super-sized, jumbo chain stores littered nearly every square inch of the town. Happy homeowners standing before their houses flashed in one image, followed immediately by an image depicting the same people living in cardboard boxes scrunched into alleyways. Contractors swindled them out of their homes and demolished them for a strip mall.

Another image showed several pedestrians taking leisurely walks on little cobblestone pathways through a lush, green park with a fountain in the middle. The succeeding picture saw the park transformed into a smog-dispensing cigar factory where angry locals protested outside the gates.

The next photo showed several people walking down a street at night, lost in an animated conversation. The image transitioned into one with people jumping up in rage as a pack of weasels ran off with several jewels and wallets full of munny. In the background the shops that were closed for the night had supplied their doors and windows with bars.

For the next ten minutes, similar comparison photos faded in and out of the screen. Once bright-faced townsfolk eagerly caught up in their daily routines of leisurely sitting in open-area cafés, talking with friends on the street, and taking strolls through parks and forests instantly transformed into panicky individuals shuffling in and out of stores, petitioning in the streets, and chasing after street thugs.

"Don't get me wrong, gang," began the King. "I don't have anything against big businesses trying to compete fairly. However, when my loyal subjects no longer feel happy, safe, and relaxed, I have to put my foot down!" He tapped a button on his remote and effectively set the monitor on standby. "The recent storm has effectively demolished most if not all of the town. That's the primary reason why I have called this emergency meeting. I'd like you to help rebuild this town in a way that will restore the peace."

"I understand completely, Your Majesty," called Cornelius. He rose from his seat and walked to the front of the room. "May I?" he asked, hinting at the remote.

"Of course," replied the King. "Show us your plan, Cornelius." Handing the remote to the inventor, King Mickey took a seat.

"I have taken the liberty of uploading my conceptual designs for the new Disney Town into your network, Your Majesty," stated Cornelius as he expertly pressed several buttons on the remote. "If you'll direction to the screen, you'll see an overview shot of my envisioned model." The monitor flickered on, melting the black standby screen into a conceptual sketch of the new Disney Town. "Everyone, I give you _Disney World!_" he proudly announced.

King Mickey's eyes widened as he took in the details of houses, shops, and local get-together areas all coordinated around the castle. They were all perfect renditions of the former buildings and landscape the world once possessed save for one little twist. Encompassing the entire world was a raised platform of train tracks.

"Wow, Cornelius! Really nice work!" exclaimed the overjoyed King. "What's that train system there?"

"That is a new form of public transportation, Your Highness," replied Cornelius with a proud smirk. "It is a monorail system that will run through thirty-two stops all across the world." He again toggled with the remote causing the image to zoom in for finer details. "Now if I can just direct your attention to the homes and other buildings for just a minute, I'd like to explain the fine points of their interiors."

Pressing another button on the remote, Cornelius transformed the device in his hand into a laser pointer. He circled the red dot now beaming onto the screen around a building and began explaining. "As you can see, I've remained true to the original framework of houses and local stores. The only difference in their outer construction will be the materials I'll use. The next time a huge storm hits, I'll make sure every building is sturdy enough to resist major damage. Now as for the interiors, they aren't quite as you'll remember them."

Another press of the button opened the front door of one house and melted into the interior. "The locals will be pleased to learn that a new communications network will be installed into every building. The telephone line will be replaced with a videophone network, effectively eliminating the use of the handheld receiver, completely eliminating static, and effectively supplying both caller and receiver with not just a voice but a face as well. I have eliminated the use for traveling to the market with my new refrigerator invention that dispenses select foods and beverages at the push of a button. At night, lights will no longer require switches as they will be voice-activated, and my new security system will ensure robberies as a thing of the past."

Cornelius went on to further explain in fine detail all of his plans for improvements in the average Disney home, including new furniture that transforms in size and shape to accommodate any-sized individual(s), self-cleaning floors, self-dusting shelves, and digital TV screen panels that control everything in the house. He eventually went on to describe his elaborate plans for self-sufficient parks, a system of teleportation pads, a new sports center complete with an indoor ocean for surfing and fishing, and a new movie theater that allows for 360 degree viewings.

"And finally we arrive at the monorail system," announced Cornelius as he signaled the screen to switch images. A long, white bullet-tipped train with a single red stripe running horizontally long its side stretched across the monitor. "Two noiseless maglev trains will simultaneous encircle the town. Each of the thirty-two stops is separated by five-minute intervals, thus minimizing the time it takes to reach a particular destination. This is an excellent source of transportation for people who are carrying heavy loads from one district to another. It also benefits those who are out late at night or are too tired to walk back home should they find themselves far away at the time."

A slideshow depicting the monorail's functions, capabilities, and engineering ensued, followed by a summary of Cornelius's intended modifications.

"And that about wraps it up, Your Majesty," concluded the inventor.

"Wonderful!" King Mickey applauded eagerly with a grand smile. "When can you start?"

"Well, I'll need to finalize the blueprints and tinker around with some prototypes…" Cornelius replied thoughtfully. "So in approximately a week."

"Sounds like a plan, Cornelius," nodded the King. "Why don't you and Gyro head on back to your labs and commence your projects?"

"Well, gee, Your Majesty… Are you sure you don't need anything else?" Gyro inquired. "I did after all come here to work on the restoration."

"Yes, and if security really does pose a problem, perhaps I should expand my work?" added Cornelius.

"Gosh, fellas, I'm glad you're eager to help, but I think splitting up the work this way is better," explained the King. "I'd rather you do quality work in just one area and finish sooner than undertake as many jobs as possible and fall short on sleep and efficiency."

"Point taken. Farewell, every one!" replied Gyro taking off his hat as a sign of courtesy. "If you need me, I'll be in Duckburg." He hauled the cardboard box carrying the RoboDuck prototype and exited through the damaged door, ignoring the insults from Ludwig.

"Very well then, Your Majesty. I'll return to my labs at Robertson Industries and get to work," agreed Cornelius. He shook hands with the King, bade Ludwig farewell, and just before following Gyro out the crumbling door called to Gadget, "Don't worry. I won't start the Teleport Project until you arrive." She nodded, and with that, Cornelius took his leave.

"I'll need to fix that door…" King Mickey sighed. He turned to the remaining two inventors. "Gadget, you're up!"

"Right! I'll do my best," she keenly replied. The smaller mouse hopped onto the table in the center of the room and watched as the King placed the remotely down gently next to her. "Thanks." After the King took his seat, she pressed a button and signaled the start of her slideshow, offhandedly stating, "I also managed to upload my plans onto your network."

The screen flashed brilliant blue revealing Gadget's plan. White lines sharply drawn into the blue background formed rectangular box with several buttons bunched together under a monitor. "This is the blueprint for an emergency alert and communication system that will link to both the police headquarters in town and the guard post based just outside the castle walls," Gadget explained. "Once the reconstruction is underway, an emergency monitor will be continently installed on every street corner. When I heard about crime rates increasing, this idea immediately sprang into my head. With a literal 'crime button' easily accessible to everyone in town, it should be a good start to cleaning the streets."

Gadget clicked the remote and switched to a more detailed sketch of her device with small handwriting scrawled on the sides. "Pressing the large red button labeled as 'CRIME' will immediately do two things: First, it will activate a built-in security camera and record the crime that's in progress. Secondly, alert signals will instantly trigger an alarm at the police HQ and guard post. Working in conjunction with Cornelius Robertson's teleport pad technology will ensure help arrives within seconds."

"Wow, Gadget! That sounds great!" applauded the King.

"Thanks, Your Majesty!" chimed the smaller mouse. "Any questions?"

"Alarms and cameras are nice, but what if there's a fire?" exclaimed Ludwig.

"I'm glad you asked that, professor," replied Gadget. "Right under the red 'CRIME' button is a yellow button labeled as 'FIRE'. Pressing this one will dispense a fire extinguisher as well as send an alert to the fire department."

"What about the third switch. Gadget?" asked the King.

"Ah, the blue switch!" Gadget proudly proclaimed. "That's one of my favorites. It's labeled as 'TRANSPORT'. Again, working in conjunction with Robertson teleport technologies will allow the press of the blue button to transport any person to one of three locations depending upon the second selection: the hospital, the monorail, or the police station."

"That sounds like an excellent device," stated the King. "I can't wait to see it installed."

"I'll get to work on it right away!" energetically exclaimed Gadget. She flicked another button on the remote and set the screen to standby. "As soon as it's ready, I'll let you know."

"Great. Hope to here from you real soon," replied the King with a smile. He helped the smaller mouse off of the table and led her to the door. He signaled one of the enchanted walking broomsticks traversing the colonnade with buckets of water and instructed it to take Gadget back to her quarters.

The King reentered the room, sighing again at the broken doorway. Just one more thing that needed to be fixed…

"Please allow me to apologize again for the damage caused by my Mechanical Man," said Ludwig, noting the King's momentary look of grief.

"Don't worry. I can always get a new door," replied the King halfheartedly. "Anyway, professor, if I may just direct your studies in a different direction…"

"Of course, Your Majesty!" Ludwig immediately consented, eager to redeem himself from his earlier failure. "What would you like me to invent? Another guard robot, perha—"

"NO!" shouted the King a little too loudly he realized, as the professor had jumped back in shock. "I mean, eh-heh, no," the King repeated softer this time. "Now, I know you deal better with chemistry than robotics, professor. That's why I'd like you to work on…" King Mickey pulled a glass jar filled with a dark, sludgy substance from his back pocket. "…this." He held the jar up for the professor to take and examine.

"Hmm… how intriguing…" Ludwig mused as he swirled the sludge around in its container. "What is this stuff, anyhow?"

"It's molecularly refined Heartless protoplasm," replied the King.

Ludwig jumped, nearly dropping the jar. "What?! How is that possible?"

"Well, you see…" King Mickey explained the ordeal with Dr. Frankenollie and how his creations proved to be nearly indestructible by Riku's account. "So you see, professor, I'd like you to create some weapons that can combat enemies born from this stuff."

"Hmm… I see. So this 'Riku' character obtained a sample of this refined Heartless protoplasm…" reiterated the professor, his tone now free of competitive silliness and laced with professional experience. He swirled the jar one more time, eyeing it intently. "Has this been diluted in any way?"

"Gosh, I'm not sure," the King admitted. "It was raining during the battle, so it might be watered down slightly. Is that a problem?"

"I can't be sure quite yet," von Drake flatly replied. "I need to take it to my laboratory and perform several experiments before I can incorporate a molecular destabilizing agent into select weapons." He pocketed the jar and straightened his posture, hands resting on the flaps of his lab coat. "Your Majesty, you mentioned some sort of report that accompanied the creation of this concoction, no? May I have a copy for reference?"

"Gee, I'd like to give you one, but there are two problems," replied the King. "First, I don't currently have the document in my possession. Second, when it's returned to me, the first thing I'm going to do is burn it." Ludwig frowned at this. "I can't risk it falling into the wrong hands again, you understand," the King explained.

"I suppose so," sighed the professor. "It just means more work for me, then. I'll have to try and replicate it on my own." He removed his spectacles and wiped them clean with the fabric from his lab coat. "Though, I expect you'll want me to destroy all the records I've made afterwards."

"I'm afraid so," nodded the King.

Ludwig heaved another sigh. "Very well." He replaced the spectacles upon his beak. "One last thing before I go: The specifications of your weapons?"

"Oh, right," King Mickey chuckled lightly. "Well, for starters, there's the Keyblade." He summoned forth the gold and silver Keyblade of Darkness and held it in front of the professor. "See, the Keyblade's attributes are determined by the keychain attached to it," he explained. "If you make a keychain capable of harming the protoplasm, then the Keyblade will mirror the ability."

"Ah, yes. I see…" uttered Ludwig as he held his chin, keenly analyzing the blade before him.

"You'll want to make at least four keychains," continued the King. "One for each Keyblade wielder: Sora, Riku, Kairi, and myself."

"Ho, ho! Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Your Majesty," chuckled Ludwig. "Let's just hope I can at least make _one_, eh?" He let out another chuckle then noticed the pale, worried expression plastered over the King's face. "It was just a joke, Your Majesty," he assured, waving his hands in an apologetic gesture. "I guarantee I'll get the job done! Really, the only time my inventions seem to go kaput is when I'm competing with that crazy redheaded goose! It's completely in the realm of possibility to suggest he sabotages my work! Bah!"

"Now, now. No need to speak ill of your peers, professor," advised the King. "I wouldn't have called you here in the first place if I weren't confident in your skills." Ludwig offered a proud nod, signaling the King to continue. "Anyway, besides the keychain, I'd like you to work on a staff for Donald and a shield for Goofy."

"Oh-ho! This will be the perfect opportunity to have my nephew actually _use_ one of the staffs I've scientifically enhanced for him! Excellent!" proclaimed the professor, hopping from one webbed foot to the other excitedly. "The last one I invented for his birthday present wound up in a toy store! Can you believe my crazy nephew? He actually left behind an almighty Ultima Staff in a toy store for some honest little kid to pick up and blow half the world sky-high! …The again, I suppose he was still mad about the Gravija Staff I gave him for Christmas. Ho, ho! Poor Donald was flat as a pancake for days!"

"Ha, ha, yeah…" nervously laughed the King. He remembered that eventful Christmas day when Donald went on a rampage after his nephews continually cracked jokes at their uncle's new debilitating height. Needless to say, Huey, Dewey, and Louie ran for it as the lightning bolts rained from the heavens, leaving behind rubble and debris in their wake. Three of the castle corridors had to be replaced that day.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll head to my laboratory and get to work immediately," claimed the professor.

"Please try to work as quickly as you can, Ludwig," urged the King. "I have a feeling trouble's going to strike very soon."

"Oh-ho! Don't worry, Your Majesty!" assured Ludwig. "I'll do my best—and that says something!"

The King nodded and bade the professor farewell. He took one last look at the splintered cherry wood door that had once stood firm and proud, and left the room to finally pay a visit to Vault Disney.

* * *

Riku, Donald, and Goofy finally arrived at the footstep of Dr. Frankenollie's abode. The fight that had ensued earlier left the house in complete ruin. Amazingly, the door was still standing despite the rubble massed behind its frame. How were they to reach the lab if all the stairs were demolished?

"This place is a mess!" exclaimed Donald. He kicked a few fallen roof tiles to the side and huffed.

"Garwsh, what're we gonna do?" Goofy inquired. "Doesn't look like anything's left!"

"Relax," calmly stated Riku. "We don't need the top floors." He walked to the welcome mat summoning his Keyblade. With one quick thrust, Riku jammed his blade in the mat and rent it asunder revealing the tunnel-tube entrance. "I guarantee the lab's still intact," he called over his shoulder before jumping down the tube.

Goofy and Donald glanced wide-eyed at each other. Furrowing their brows, they nodded firmly and followed Riku's example. Reaching the end of the tunnel, the two collapsed on one-another.

"That smarts…" groaned Goofy as he tenderly rubbed his head. He and Donald missed the electric chairs, and instead crashed onto the hard ground.

"So this is what it must be like for Sora," Riku thought. He smiled lightly at the two lying flat on the ground seeing stars, picturing his best friend topping off the makeshift pyramid. "Ha, ha. They make a perfect team."

While Donald and Goofy slowly recovered, Riku made his way to the table where Dr. Frankenollie had previously stacked reams of documents. His eyes widened as they scanned the table. It was bare. The documents were missing. Riku quickly darted his gaze around the room and noticed rings imprinted on the once cluttered lab station signifying the missing beakers. Even the preparation gel that was once abandoned was no longer left on the stack of haphazardly strewn papers (not to mention the papers themselves were gone). The entire lab was swept clean and all of Dr. Frankenollie's work had mysteriously vanished. Only the bones remained to clutter the floors.

"What's the matter, Riku?" asked Donald. He and Goofy finally managed their way next to the Key wielder.

"Someone's been here," Riku replied ominously.

"Huh? How can ya tell?" inquired Goofy.

Riku spun around frantically. "They've taken the documents and all of Frankenollie's research!"

"What!" Both Donald and Goofy jumped.

Placing a hand on Frankenollie's former lab station, Riku traced the inner ring left by a beaker. He swiped two fingers along the coarse table surface and examined them carefully with his eyes. "Judging by the lack of dust, it wasn't too long ago," he muttered. Grunting he focused his eyes on Donald and Goofy. "There's a good chance whoever did this is still in the vicinity. Let's split up and look for clues."

Donald and Goofy saluted and spread out to scour every nook and cranny of the dungeon. Meanwhile Riku made his way towards the electric chairs where a small glint caught his eye. He paused to momentarily kneel and pick a small, bronze key from the floor. He raised it at eye level and smirked as while examining it. The maniacal doctor had chucked this key at Sora's forehead during their previous visit. Riku narrowed his eyes and scanned across the key's surface. It was an ordinary house key, but one particular detail caught his interest. Engraved along the surface of the bow was a series of letters that read: F.O.W.L.

Riku furrowed his brows and pondered over the mysterious engraving. Was it an acronym of some sort? Deciding to question the King about it later, Riku slipped the key into his pocket. As he slid his hand out of the pocket it brushed along side something jagged and crumpled. He eased his fingers around the new object and slowly withdrew a wrinkled piece of paper. Unfolding it, his eyes widening as they fell upon the contents. Of course! The document he snatched from the lab earlier!

"At least this one didn't get away," Riku muttered while returning it to his pocket. He turned his focus now to the floor and scanned for traces of the single, circular ring resting atop a cleverly camouflaged plank. "The trapdoor Sora found was somewhere along the wall behind these chairs…" He bent over and scoured every inch of the dust and bone cluttered ground but failed to find the metallic handle. "It's…not here?" Baffled, Riku continued to pace in search of the door. Surely it must be in the area! Trapdoors don't simply get up and walk away! …Right?

Not too far from Riku, Donald was snooping along the floor and visually tracing some of the piping. He tried desperately to ignore the decaying bones, but they were scattered everywhere. Eventually landing his sights on the infamous duct taped liquid nitrogen pipe, he followed it all the way up to the ceiling to relieve his eyes if only for a moment. The bats above were hanging upside down in deep slumber with their wings carefully wrapped around their bodies. Donald wondered why had they not been disturbed? The one(s) who came to take all of the doctor's work must not have caused much of a ruckus if the bats weren't even screeching.

Goofy on the other hand took to examining the cages lined along the far wall when his ears picked up on a sudden noise. He immediately shot his head in the direction of a circular, metallic handle jutting out from the adjacent, cobbled wall. He cautiously approached the ring and noticed faint, discreet grooves within the solid rock possibly signifying a hidden door. Another noise echoed to Goofy's ears and confirmed the sounds were coming from beyond the wall.

"Hey, fellas! Come quick!" called Goofy. "There's noise comin' from behind this wall!"

Reluctantly abandoning his search for the trapdoor, Riku joined Donald as the two made their way towards their comrade. He nearly gasped when his eyes met with an all too familiar ringed handle. "I don't have time for your mind games, Frankenollie!" Riku irritably growled as he latched onto the ring and forcefully tore the cobbled panel open to reveal…a set of descending stairs. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Do you hear that?" whispered Donald. The near silent descent of rapid footsteps echoed from below, causing Riku to plunge into the darkness in pursuit.

"Huh? Hey! Wait fer us!" exclaimed Goofy.

Riku raced down the stairs and through a similar passageway he and Sora traversed during their earlier visit. It was dark and the steps were plentiful. With only one direction to go, the only question dangling on Riku's mind involved the intruder's escape route. What lay beyond the staircase? More sets of stairs or perhaps something completely unexpected? "Like an elevator," Riku mused in a cocky response to his own thoughts.

The phantom footsteps steadily increased in volume, and soon became more frantic. "He must know I'm here," Riku thought while increasing his own speed. The darkness prevented an accurate assessment of the area. The Key wielder had no way of knowing where the stairs would lead. He exerted more force into his legs, praying he'd make it in time to catch the thief before he vanished.

"_Fire!_"

"Heh, why didn't Sora think of that?" smirked Riku as Donald lit the narrow passage with his magic. He and Goofy weren't too far behind the Key wielder. They eventually caught up with him and the three sped down the newly lit steps together. Finally, the object of their chase came into view as well as the end of the path. Debris lay beyond the platform, completely cutting off the apparent tunnel.

But the cave-in presented little interest for the three warriors. Their complete attention rested on the figure desperately trying to outrun them.

"It can't be!" cried Donald.

"Gawrsh! Is that—"

"That's not possible!" interject Riku bitterly.

They were chasing a single figure cloaked in the deepest, darkest black from head to toe.

The figure in black knew of his pursuers, yet continued towards the blockade of rubble and debris. He came to a stop and gradually raised an arm and open palm to the rubble. Instantly, dark streaks of energy erupted from his palm and generated a portal of darkness. The figure swerved around slightly to gaze at the three giving chase.

"You! Stop!" shouted Riku. He summoned forth the Keyblade and flew into the air preparing to strike. The figure clad in black would allow no such action, however. He withdrew from his cloak a single beaker filled to the rim with a vile, green liquid and chucked it at his pursers. Gritting his teeth, Riku swung his Keyblade and knocked the beaker off course. Unfortunately, this created enough delay to allow the figure's escape into darkness. The portal sealed before Riku touched ground.

Furious and frustrated, Riku pounded his fist hard into the blockade. "This isn't happening…" He held his head low and took in a deep breath to regain his composure. That didn't last long, however. A sudden shriek sent his reflexes back into battle mode. He swerved around, and to his horror, found both Goofy and Donald drenched in the vile green substance. Goofy's eyes had constricted into miniscule dots as he uncontrollably screeched high-pitched, unintelligible words. Donald, on the other hand, had tumbled onto his back spastically twitching and furiously punched his fists in the air accompanied with the occasional kick.

Great, Sora was all the way back at the castle and the only magic user qualified to cast healing spells was currently convulsing on the ground. Not waiting long enough for the panic to kick in, Riku reached into his pocket and yanked out his emergency Mega-Elixir. He desperately tossed the large, golden bottle into the air and struck it with his Keyblade. Pure, translucent liquid poured over the two friends, immediately cleansing them of the impure green concoction by dissolving it instantly upon contact. The two gradually calmed themselves, taking a few minutes to steady their breathing.

"What happened…?" panted Donald in a daze.

"Gawrsh, my throat feels funny," Goofy murmured. "And m'hair's been ruffled up!" He reached a gloved hand to his head and patted down the stray tuft of hairs.

"I'm sorry. I must've accidentally swiped the beaker into your direction," Riku apologized. "I didn't want him to get away…"

"Next time mind your surroundings, you big palooka!" quacked the magician a little too angrily. Riku hung his head in shame. He not only allowed the cloaked thief to escape but he nearly poisoned Donald and Goofy.

"Gee, Donald! Mind yer temper!" Goofy scolded. He reassuringly placed a gloved hand on Riku's shoulder. "Riku didn't mean us any harm. He just wanted to catch the thief. Right?"

So forgiving…just like Sora. Riku's careless determination nearly killed them! This is why he should work alone.

The Key wielder continued to sulk, earning a frown from Goofy. "Aw, cheer up!" Still nothing. Goofy glared at Donald, urging him to say something.

"Aw phooey!" huffed Donald. He let out a long, exasperated sigh and tapped his foot impatiently. "Don't worry about it, Riku," he finally replied sincerely, having blown off all his steam. "Let's just focus on the thief. He ran off with Ansem's reports!"

"Not to mention he was wearing a black coat," added Goofy. "Gawrsh, you don't think he's—"

"It's impossible," interjected Riku, finally snapping his head at attention. "He can't be from the Organization."

"But he was wearin' a black hood, too!" stated Goofy. "We couldn't see his face!"

"And he summoned a dark portal!" added Donald.

"It doesn't matter!" snapped the Key wielder. "Organization XIII is gone! There has to be another explanation." He wouldn't hear of a possible resurrection of the dreaded band of Nobodies that once used Sora and Roxas's abilities as Keyblade Masters for their own selfish reasons—the same Nobodies who imprisoned Namine, Kairi's Nobody, and forced her to strip the memories chained around Sora's heart. No, that league of beings belonging to a realm of nothingness was long gone. Riku and Sora made sure of that. They dealt the final blow to the Organization's leader together and watched him fade.

"Gee, Riku, no need to get upset," calmed Goofy. "We'll just tell the King. I'm sure he'll know what's goin' on if we just explain it to 'im."

Riku closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. He walked passed Donald and Goofy, wordlessly starting the trek back upstairs. Donald and Goofy silently glanced at each other worriedly before following the Key wielder.

* * *

"_Novus Ordo Seclorum?_ Huh…that's a weird thing to say! What do you think it means?"

Sora hung on every one of Kairi's words as she vividly described her vision. Although he wasn't sure what to make of it, that didn't stop his curiosity.

"I don't know, Sora," Kairi she replied. "I'm not familiar with the phrase."

"Hmm…" Sora stopped walking and placed a hand to his chin in deep thought. "I wonder if it has anything to do with the crown and heart?"

"What makes you say that?" asked the Kairi, pausing beside her dearest friend.

"Well, as of right now I can think of two symbols that repeat: a crown and the color gold. In the case of the crown, it's only present within two scenes whereas gold remains throughout all three. If everything in your vision is related, maybe the gold actually links the crown to the heart, and then you'd have to wonder where the phrase fits in, right? When they're connected like that, the phrase must refer to either the crown, the heart, or both."

"I never thought of that…" uttered Kairi. She too raised a hand to caress her chin thoughtfully. "Still, aren't crowns usually gold?"

"True, but what about hearts?" pressed Sora. "The heart you saw could have easily been red before fading into black and white." Kairi nodded in agreement.

The two friends fell into silence, losing themselves within endless trains of tangled theories surrounding the mysterious vision. So caught up in their thoughts were they that the sudden opening of the door not but five feet from them nearly sent the two jumping through the ceiling.

"I'm terribly sorry! I didn't mean to scare you," quickly apologized a sincere, familiar voice.

Recovered from the sudden shocked, Sora gazed down and saw a familiar mouse in a gown with a crown atop her head. "Great to see you're well, Queen Minnie!"

"Thanks to you, Sora," replied the Queen. "Donald and Goofy informed me of your courageous actions. They arrived just in time to defeat an army of Heartless that invaded my private quarters!"

"Aw, it was no trouble," he grinned. "Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to my friend Kairi if you two haven't met yet."

The Queen turned her gaze to the redhead beside Sora and smiled warmly. "So you're Kairi! I've heard so much about you from the King. It's good to finally meet you."

"Same here. Although I would have preferred your anniversary ball as the place of our meeting," the Princess replied.

The Queen's smile fell slightly. "I couldn't agree more. Since the King's return, things have not been running as smoothly at the castle as one would hope."

"Is it the town?" inquired Sora.

"Yes, but I fear the town's disturbance is only the beginning,"

"Really? How come?" inquired Sora.

"It's not my place to say," replied the Queen. "King Mickey will tell you when he's ready."

"We can respect that," said Kairi. Sora nodded, remembering what she had said earlier. "Anyway, the King asked me to give you this." She pulled the parchment from her pocket and handed it to the Queen.

Taking the parchment, the Queen unraveled it and carefully read over its contents. Her eyes grew wide with worry and she quickly gazed at the two warriors of light. "We have to pay a visit to the lower floors," she stated hurriedly.

"Huh? The lower floors?" It took a moment for Sora to correlate the Vault to the lower floors. "Oh, that's right! That's where the King stored Ansem's reports!"

"You know about the Vault?" questioned Kairi. She and Riku had only discovered its existence during the meeting earlier—the same meeting Sora did not attend.

"Yeah," he replied. "After returning to Destiny Island, King Mickey asked me for all the Ansem reports I managed to collect. He wanted to archive them in the castle's largest vault."

"And that's precisely what he did," chimed in the Queen. "However, this message mentions a theft!"

Sora nodded. "Dr. Frankenollie broke in and stole all the reports."

"Then we must hurry to the Vault and assess the damages," stated the Queen. "Let's be on our way."

The two friends followed the Queen as she rushed down the colonnade and out to the courtyard. They followed the pathway the rough the artistic shrubbery to the miniature castle in the center. The Queen shuffled several feet in front of the entranceway to the Gummi Hangar and came to a halt. When Sora and Kairi finally caught up with her, the Queen had magically produced a small flute by clapping her hands rhythmically. The flute literally popped out of thin air and fluttered into the Queen's hands. She inhaled deeply and touched the mouthpiece to her lips, generating a melodious tune with her fine finger work and perfectly timed puffs of air. The tune she hummed earlier now projected from the flute accompanied by a mystical rainbow flittering out of the tip end of the instrument. Both sound and color began resonating with the surrounding landscape.

Sora and Kairi watched in amazement as the five hedges crafted in the image of symphony musicians came to life and played their instruments in tune with the Queen's flute. First the trumpet sounded off, followed by the tuba and trombone. The cymbals flashed in next, and the piece completed itself with the introduction of another flute. A visible rainbow of sounds shot from the resonating instruments and collected into a massive sphere of energy above the hedge-carved castle. It surged down to the open doorway leading to hangar and blanketed the black, hollowed entrance with a force field of vibrantly colors.

"Quickly now! The gate won't stay open for long," said the Queen, having ceased her fluting. She hurriedly walked through the multicolored gateway. The orchestrated sounds flooding the courtyard gradually began to diminish. Sora and Kairi followed the Queen quickly before the gate vanished in a burst of white light.

The three now stood before a single elevator with wide open doors. Queen Minnie entered the elevator and turned around to face the two perplexed friends. "This will take us to the Vault. There are too many floors to use a simple staircase," she said in answer to their unspoken questions. Once Sora and Kairi had climbed into the elevator, the Queen pressed the last of the forty-some-odd buttons. A chime signaled the closing of the doors and the lift jolted suddenly as it began its long descent.

"You know, considering an entire orchestra performed just to open the gate, I'm surprised someone was able to break into this place," commented Sora.

"That's what has me worried," replied the Queen. "The thief must have found a different passage."

"Is that possible?" inquired Kairi. "Are there any other entry points?"

"None that we've created," certified the Queen. "If Dr. Frankenollie or anyone else managed to break into the lower levels, they must have done so by some other means."

"The only thing we can do is find the one responsible and question him," replied Sora. Queen Minnie nodded in response.

The elevator continued to creep down the castle's catacombs but was still at least two-dozen floors away from its destination. "Queen Minnie, I know the Vault is on the bottom floor, but what do you keep on the other floors?" questioned Kairi.

"They are the remnants of our old storage facility," replied the Queen. "However, as the years went by, more and more items accumulated to the point where King Mickey had a new device installed that would allow for infinite storage. After the Vault was built, all the documents and artifacts that used to require forty-seven expansive floors were deposited in the single vault on the forty-eighth floor."

"Wow! That's amazing!" exclaimed Sora. "One vault can hold that many items?"

"Yes. A brilliant inventor named Cornelius Robertson designed it."

"That's amazing," repeated Sora, still in awe. He could hardly wait to explore the so-called "infinite" vault.

The chime of the elevator finally came and the doors gradually opened. The three occupants stepped out and came face-to-face with a gigantic, steel vault crafted in none other than the King's image. Sora's jaw nearly dropped at the sight. He'd never seen a vault so huge!

"One moment while I input the password," said the Queen as she shuffled towards a small keypad to the side of the steel hatch. She hurriedly punched in several numerical keys, and within seconds, the ground began to quake. The circular vault gradually rolled to the side and revealed the enormous chamber that once rested safely behind well over three tons of solid steel. The Queen turned towards her guests announcing, "This is Vault Disney!" Facing the newly opened chamber, Queen Minnie proceeded to enter.

Sora stood mouth agape, unable to process the many trinkets jutting out at him from the newly created view. Thousands upon thousands of shelves lined with all sorts of items ranging from large to small, old to new, shiny to dull popped out at him. How could so many things fit in _one_ room? And that was just the front of the room, too! There were signs of many more rows of shelves in the back! A quick jab to the ribs by Kairi sent him back to his senses and he followed her into the heavily stocked storage room.

The three paused to gather around a single, circular table sandwiched between the many shelves. Sora guessed it was one of many tables set up as resting points as his eyes could not clearly discern a noticeable end to the room, but he did spot a speck in the distance which he assumed to be another table.

"In his message, the King has asked me to retrieve a certain document that he believes may be of interest to you, Kairi," explained the Queen. "Now you two wait here while I search for it. I also need to check up on several items concerning the theft. King Mickey is worried several key artifacts may have been stolen along with Ansem's reports."

"Of course, Your Majesty. Take your time," said Kairi.

"We'd help you if we could," added Sora. "But wow… This place is huge! I wouldn't be able to tell a missing item from a duplicate in here!"

"That's all right," giggled the Queen. "I promise I'll return as quickly as I can. Feel free to look around while I'm gone." And with that, she disappeared into the aisles of stacked shelves, leaving Sora and Kairi to explore the materials within their area. There were shelves and counters rimmed with everything from scrolls to medals, as well as several odd items like shrunken skulls and boxes of exotic chocolates.

While Kairi poked around a stack of ancient scrolls depicting the myth of Atlantis, Sora's eyes wandered onto a tiny bottle filled with a strange reddish-purple liquid that reminded him of fruit punch. He glanced at the tag below it that read _Gummiberry Juice,_ wondering what a gummiberry was and how it tasted. "Better not drink the King's only bottle, though," he thought and let his eyes fall instead on another item of interest. It was a small, rectangular box with a royal red, velvet lining. Imprinted in its center was an empty, spherical recess. Glancing at the nametag, it read: _Treasure Sphere_. "Huh, that's odd. I don't see a sphere…" Sora hovered his hand above the recess just to make sure the sphere wasn't invisible. "Nope. Nothing here. I should tell the Queen."

Further down from Sora, Kairi had ventured to the end of the extremely long shelf and discovered a small, electronic panel attached to a metal stand. Its LCD screen read: _Interactive Archive Index – touch to activate_. Curious, Kairi tapped the screen once, immediately opening a menu of options. The screen now read _Organize By:_ and provided a list:

Name

Index Number

Section

Description

Search

Kairi touched the "Name" option and was immediately prompted with a list of all the letters in the alphabet and all numbers spanning from 0-9. She touched the letter "A" that resulted in a list of items starting with that letter. Not wanting to scroll down more than 9,000 entries, she touched the "N" next followed by "S," "E," and "M." The top hit on the list below now read "Ansem Reports." She tapped the selection and transitioned to a screen listing its details:

Ansem Reports

Index No. CWD-22302

Section: Classified Written Documents

Archive Date: XXXXXX

Recent Access Date: XXXXXX

Description: Documentation of scientific study conducted by Ansem the Wise and Xehanort.

Retrieve / Cancel

Furrowing her brows, Kairi decided to be daring and hit the "Retrieve" icon. The screen melted into a map of the vault with two flickering dots. The dots were labeled as "You Are Here" and "Item Here" with a measurement of "2.5 mi" flashing at the top of the screen. "2.5 miles? I can't walk that far right now…" thought Kairi. As if on cue, another optioned popped up in the lower-left corner prompting "Teleport?" Giggling softly, Kairi decided to give it a shot. She tapped the option and waited to be teleported to the appropriate section. Several seconds later, a chime echoed from the monitor. Kairi looked down at the screen that was now bright blue with large, white text that read: System Error! Data Corrupt!

"Corrupted data?" She tapped the screen and was brought back to the active map, the corner still reading "Teleport?" She tried the option again, hoping the first go was just a hiccup in the system. Again, the screen reverted to the bright blue screen of doom signaling the presence of data corruption. "Whoever stole the reports must have hacked the system to prevent further access. But why?" Kairi fell into deep thought, contemplating the dilemma. If a thief wanted to cover his tracks, why would he corrupt the data? That would just arouse more suspicion.

"Hey, Kairi! Look at this!" shouted Sora enthusiastically from across the room, effectively derailing Kairi's train of thought.

"What is it?" she asked, having walked back to her dearest friend.

"Take a look at this!" he said, waving a rectangular wooden box. "It's the King's personal domino set! This really brings back memories…" Sora slid the lid off the slim, wooden box and poured out its contents. Twenty-eight rectangular obsidian pieces, each with ivory dots scattered along their faces, shuffled out of the box and piled onto the table. "Remember, Kairi? We used to play with these all the time when we were kids!"

"I remember," nodded Kairi with a light giggle. "You always tried to stack them in a row and Riku would sneak up behind you with a loud 'Boo'! You'd jump and trigger the dominos to topple prematurely."

Sora rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ha, ha. Yeah. Crazy Riku… It took forever to stack them just right!" He reached for a domino and balanced it carefully on the table so it stood vertically on edge. Sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth in concentration, Sora reached for another and carefully positioned it half an inch behind his first piece. He repeated the process again and again, occasionally standing a domino at an angle to create a curve. All the while, Kairi watched him meticulously place each piece and craft a design. Until it came time for the toppling chain reaction, only Sora would know the true form the dominos would take.

"Finished!" Sora proclaimed after setting the final piece in place. He enthusiastically glanced back at Kairi. "Ready?"

She giggled. "Go for it!"

With a wide, ear-to-ear smile, Sora gently tapped the foremost domino. It instantly fell backwards under its weight and in turn, caused the one behind it to topple. The pattern continued, each piece collapsing unto the one behind it. Kairi stood mesmerized as one by one, the pieces quickly toppled so fast that neither she nor Sora could stop them even if they wanted to. They all fell until the only thing left was the design formed from flat-faced dominos—a design that could only be viewed properly from above. She took a step closer and stood tiptoed to get a better view. The image left in the wake of the fallen dominos was a symmetrical shape that gradually curved upwards and arched inwards towards the topmost portion. Kairi stared transfixed on the shape for several minutes longer than intended.

"Kairi? Something wrong?" Sora finally ventured to ask. "It's not…deformed, is it?"

"No, Sora," she replied. "It's perfect. It's…a heart."

"Ha, ha. Yup!" Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I wanted to make a Keyblade, but I realized I didn't have enough pieces." He finally stepped up to see his own creation and nodded approvingly at his work.

Kairi turned to face Sora with a warm smile. "Congratulations, you finally did it!"

"Yeah, and it only took me _how_ many years?" he joked. "When we go home, we should dig out all those dominos again. Then I'll make something _really_ spectacular!"

"Yeah, when we go home…" Kairi hummed. Home…just how long would it take before they could really return to the islands? Kairi couldn't help but feel a sickening feeling deep inside her heart that something terrible was going to happen to her friends. Would the three be able to return home together this time? She'd have to believe they would. "I look forward to it, Sora."

"Just make sure to keep Riku away long enough for me to set the things up!" Sora continued, lost in his fantasies of professional domino toppling. "I remember this one guy set fireworks to trigger when a domino landed on the switch. I could probably pull that off on the beach since—"

"I apologize for the long wait," interrupted the Queen, finally emerging from behind a shelf with a manila folder in hand and walking hurriedly towards the two friends.

"Oh, that's okay, Your Majesty!" called Sora. "Kairi and I were just experimenting with this domino set. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, Sora," replied the Queen having finally reached the table. "Ah, it's that set! If I remember correctly, the King received it as a souvenir from a grand domino event years ago."

"Did it involve fireworks?" question Sora eagerly.

"Why, yes, it did!" replied the Queen with a grand smile as she recalled the memory. "Not only that, but one contestant set his dominos to trigger an entire street parade! It truly was a spectacular sight."

"Wow! I should give that a try…" uttered the avid domino fan.

Queen Minnie let out a small chuckle. "If you're that interested, maybe we can hold a domino festival after the ball."

"Really?!" Sora nearly jumped through the ceiling. Kairi couldn't help but giggle at her friend's hyperactive excitement.

"Sure," sincerely nodded the Queen. "But for right now, we have other matters to discuss."

"Right!" Sora saluted and promptly cleared the table of the dominos, carefully stacking them back in their box.

With the table finally clean the Queen took a seat, motioning the other two to do the same. Once they were seated on either side of her, the Queen placed the document onto the table for everyone to see. "These are the only documents that managed to survive the robbery, I'm afraid. Ansem the Wise gave them to the King long before Radiant Garden came under Heartless invasion."

"You mean_ all_ the documents relating to Ansem were stolen?" inquired Sora.

"Unfortunately, yes," solemnly replied the Queen.

"Your Majesty, while on the subject, I used the computerized panel to locate Ansem's reports within your system," said Kairi. "However, when I tried to teleport to the section, there was an error indicating data corruption."

"Oh my! Data corruption?" exclaimed the Queen. "The thieves must have tampered with the archive!"

"But what do they have to gain by corrupting the teleportation device?" pressed Kairi. "If someone really wanted those reports, they could simply walk to that section."

"Hey, didn't you just visit that section to get these documents, Your Majesty?" asked Sora.

"No, these documents are from a different section," replied the Queen. "The reports you and King Mickey collected throughout your journey are several miles from here."

"Miles?! Just how big is this place?" exclaimed Sora in awe.

"It has infinite storage capabilities, remember, Sora?" chimed Kairi.

"Oh yeah…" he murmured.

"Your Majesty, you said the King asked you to inspect several artifacts," remembered Kairi. "Was anything else stolen?"

The Queen let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes. An ancient magic talisman is missing."

Sora quirked a brow. "Magic talisman?"

"It once belonged to a powerful, evil sorcerer," explained the Queen. "His greed for more power became his undoing, however. Eventually he was defeated and the King retrieved the talisman to hide it here from the rest of the worlds."

"That's understandable," commented Kairi. "But who'd want to steal it now, and why?"

"I'm afraid I don't know," replied the Queen.

"Hmm…" Sora rubbed his chin in deep thought, and suddenly bolted from his seat. "Oh! That's right!" he exclaimed, shocking the two still seated. "Your Majesty, come look at this!" He raced to the shelf where the rectangular box housing the empty, spherical recess rested. "It says there's supposed to be a 'Treasure Sphere' here, but I don't see anything…"

"Oh my!" exclaimed the Queen, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth in shock. "Someone's stolen the sphere, too?"

"What's its significance?" inquired Sora.

"Although we aren't certain, it's supposedly the key to finding the long, lost Treasure Planet," Queen Minnie explained.

Sora brought a thoughtful hand to caress her chin and furrowed his brows. "What do Ansem's reports, a magical talisman, and the key to a treasure-filled planet have in common?"

Kairi was just about to join Sora in pondering over the correlation between missing items when she remembered the reason she was down here to begin with. "What's written in those documents?" she asked, turning to the Queen and motioning to the folder.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" apologized the Queen. "Here you are." She handed the folder to Kairi who gingerly flipped it over to skim through the first document. Almost immediately the phrase "_Ad Lucem_" captivated her gaze. Before she could continue reading, the sound of footsteps and muffled voices echoed into the room. The three immediately turned their gazes towards the vault entrance and caught the sight of four approaching figures.

"Mickey!" cried the Queen rather relieved. She rushed to the King, who was accompanied by Riku, Donald, and Goofy.

"Hiya, Minnie!" called the King, waving his hand in the air. "How's everything down here?"

Her response was drowned out by Goofy and Donald rushing past the two royals shouting, "Sora!!" They flung themselves into Sora's arms, effectively tackling him to the ground.

"Ha, ha! Hey, guys!" Sora struggled to chuckle under the weight of his friends. He hugged them tightly with a grand smile. "Sorry I worried you…"

"Yer darn right you worried us!" scolded Goofy.

"Don't ever do that again!" quacked Donald.

"Guys, come on! We didn't have a choice!" Sora tried to reason. "The Queen was in danger and Dr. Frankenollie had to be stopped! Besides, I'm still in one piece, aren't I?"

"That may be true for now, but don't let there be a next time!" protested Goofy.

"I promise. Next time, we'll go together," Sora vowed.

"That's better!" nodded Donald satisfactorily.

"I'm glad you approve, Donald," grinned Sora. "So…can we get up now?" The three musketeers were still lying flat on the ground. They all gave a hearty chuckle and eventually rolled back onto their feet.

"So what happened after we left?" Goofy asked.

"Well, Dr. Frankenollie summoned forth Kingdom Hearts and—"

"Kingdom Hearts?!" exclaimed Donald and Goofy in unison, their eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

"Yeah," said Sora, waving it off as though it was no big deal. "Anyway, he went through the door and—"

"Through the door?!" they exclaimed again.

"Yeah," repeated Sora in similar fashion. "After that, he started merging with the Heartless until he turned into a monster like _King Kong!_"

"_King Kong?_ Are you boring your friends with B-movies again, Sora?"

"Huh?" Sora turned his head as he felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder. "Riku!"

"Ha, ha. Yeah, I'm here too," Riku smirked. He was happy to see his best friend up and well. It really helped ease his mind, if only by a little. Some teasing also proved helpful in these situations, right? "Or were you too caught up in your movie fandom to notice?"

"I wouldn't talk so big if I were you," Sora warned.

"Oh? Why not?" inquired Riku intrigued and still smirking.

Now it was Sora's turn to smirk. "Because I won the bet," he replied victoriously.

It took a moment for Riku to remember the competition they engaged in during their trip through the mad monkey's infinite stairwells. "Heh, yeah, I guess you did," he admitted, dropping his smirk to a soft smile. "So what's the score now? 1,000,000 to1?"

"Hey! That's not how I remember it!" exclaimed Sora, earning a chuckle from Riku.

"Gosh!" came the King's cry, interrupting the two best friends. "Both the talisman and the sphere are gone?" The Queen nodded solemnly. The King furrowed his brows in thought for a moment and then called, "Okay, meeting time, everyone!

They all gathered around the table and shared information. Sora was finally able to explain his ordeal with Dr. Frankenollie and Kingdom Hearts, Kairi shared her vision, Riku recounted his encounter with the black cloaked thief, Goofy and Donald gave a status update on the town, and Queen Minnie listed the problems surrounding the Vault.

"Golly… We sure have a lot on our plates, don't we, gang?" wearily uttered the King.

"Riku, that thief you saw…" began Sora, but Riku immediately cut him off.

"No, he's not from the Organization."

"Do you think it's possible they had other members?" Sora continued regardless.

"No, I don't," asserted Riku. "They're gone. Xemnas is gone. Xehanort is gone. Ansem is gone. They're _all_ gone. It's over." Riku was determined to put all of those people behind him, and Sora understood this perfectly. But that still didn't change the fact that a man in a black coat was running around stealing things.

"Your Majesty, what do you think?" questioned Kairi turning to the King, hoping to avoid a fight between her two best friends.

"Honestly, it's too early to tell," replied the King. "Although it's possible that Organization XIII could have a surviving member, it's highly unlikely at the same time."

"Your Majesty, before you say anything more," began Riku while reaching into his pocket. "I have something to show you." He produced the single surviving document from Dr. Frankenollie's lab and unfolded it. "This symbol in the upper left corner…Does it mean anything to you?" Riku handed the paper to King Mickey, whose eyes instantly bulged. The King's visage paled, leaving his appearance old and fatigued. His mouth quivered open in sheer disbelief. He stared fixated at the small, red seal resembling his own yet still very much different, until Riku nudged him lightly. "Your Majesty…? Are you all right?" All eyes fell on the King.

"Mickey, everything will be okay," consoled the Queen. "I think it's time you tell them."

"Tell us what?" inquired Sora worriedly. "King Mickey, what's going on?"

The room fell silent. King Mickey closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"It's Mortimer," he uttered softly.

"Who?" asked Sora.

Opening his pained and tired eyes, the King explained the situation. "Years ago before the worlds were connected and I was just crowned King of Disney World, Mortimer Mouse tried to steal my crown, queen, and castle." Sora's jaw nearly dropped. How could someone try to take on King Mickey? Was this Mortimer guy insane?! The King really knew how to swing a Keyblade! As if reading Sora's mind, the King let out a sigh and continued. "Mortimer did numerous terrible things to get me out of the picture. Now, this was before I obtained the powers of the Keyblade. So when he drenched me red paint and tossed me into a pit with angry bulls, needless to say I had a hard time getting out of that mess."

"But you did get out," Riku stated pointedly.

The King wearily nodded. "Yes, I did, and I challenged Mortimer to a duel immediately after. He lost, vanished, and returned several months later. He planted a beanstalk under my bed and when it grew, it sent my bed flying into the clouds where a giant tried to knock me out of the picture. Again I escaped and dueled him, and again he vanished only to return with yet another devious ploy. Each plan of his was more devious than the last until finally he allied himself with a dark sorcerer named Merlock…" King Mickey trailed off, uncomfortable to continue the story. The Queen took his hand in hers and massaged it soothingly.

After a few moments, he continued. "Merlock wreaked havoc upon the Kingdom. He destroyed the castle and replaced it with his own floating fortress. The world was then divided between Mortimer and himself. By that time, I was thrown into a volcanic dungeon and Queen Minnie was taken as Mortimer's prisoner. I-I almost didn't make it out alive... Thankfully Goofy and Donald found and freed me from my shackles before the volcano erupted. We traveled to Merlock's fortress where we fought a long, hard battle. After Merlock fell, I obtained the object of his powers. It was a magical talisman—the same one that was stolen. Anyway, I returned to face off against Mortimer. Now powered with the talisman, I didn't think I had anything to fear. Except… H-he…" The King paused. It was too difficult to say. "He… used Queen Minnie as a shield."

"It's okay, Mickey. Everything worked out in the end," the Queen reminded him. She was, after all, sitting right there.

The King became slightly aggravated. "I know that, Minnie. But he used you as a shield, that no-good-rotten…!" He took another deep breath and continued. "Anyway, gang, I…accidentally hit the Queen and she…fell motionless to the ground. I couldn't believe what I had done. I tried to undo the spell, but Mortimer tackled me, laughing his signature crazy laugh: 'Ha-cha-cha'. When I defeated him, he fell off the floating fortress to what I thought was his ultimate demise. I then rushed to Minnie's side and desperately shot spell after spell hoping she'd awaken. And…yeah, she did. That was the last time I saw Mortimer…"

"Is that all?" replied Sora sincerely unimpressed. "Come on, Your Majesty! You can't be serious! That's what has you so down? You're a Keyblade wielder now with tons of experience battling Heartless, Nobodies, and entire Organizations! There's no need to be scared of some mouse that needs a big buff sorcerer to play bodyguard! Besides, you have all of us and we're packing three extra Keyblades. So cheer up, Your Majesty! We'll get through this together."

"Ha, ha… yeah. You're right, Sora," replied the King, trying his hardest to appear happy and relieved. But no one bought the act.

"There's something else bothering you, isn't there?" stated Kairi knowingly. "It's not just Mortimer."

"That's…something I'd rather not discuss quite yet…" slowly replied King Mickey.

Sora wanted to press the King, but Kairi shook her head. He instead replied, "When you're ready, we'll be here to listen and help."

Silence.

Goofy's eyes wandered around the table. Everyone was sullen, befuddled, or lost in thought. "Y'know," he said, trying to get everyone focused again. "We should take this here opportunity to plan our next move. We've got missin' items, thieves, and a crazy monkey to deal with!"

"Goofy's right!" stated Sora. "I let Dr. Frankenollie get away, so I'll just have to drag him back here for some quality time with Chief O'Hara."

Seeming to snap out of his trance, the King nodded firmly in agreement. "We'll have to hunt down the doctor before he can continue his experiments, and also retrieve the items he stole. I doubt he's still on this world, so we'll have to do some digging around first to get a lead or two."

"While you're doing that, I'll stay here and do some research," added Kairi. She still didn't get a chance to read the document the Queen had given her.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Sora nodded in agreement. "Then it's settled. Goofy, Donald, Riku, and I will take the Gummi Ship and look for Frankenollie."

"Sorry, I think I'll pass," said Riku, pushing from his chair.

"Huh? Riku…?" Sora bewilderedly looked at his best friend.

Riku just wasn't ready to team up with Sora on a journey, not after what happened in the past and certainly not after the recent events with Donald and Goofy. "I say we split up. We'll cover more ground that way." He forced a smirk hoping Sora wouldn't get suspicious. "Whoever finds the monkey this time scores double points."

"Double points…? Are you serious?" he asked in disbelief.

Was Sora actually buying it?

"What kind of an excuse is that?" he exclaimed. Nope, he didn't buy it. Sora rose from his chair and approached his best friend, staring him straight in the eyes. "Tell me the truth, Riku."

"Sora, it's just strategy," Riku explained. "There are many worlds out there and Dr. King Kong could be on any one of them. If we split up, it increases our chances of finding him sooner."

The Keyblade Master shook his head. "I understand that, and I agree with the _strategy_. What I don't agree with, however, is your true reason for doing this." Riku's eyes remained fixed on his best friend's and flickered with a split-second glint of guilt. Of course, Sora caught it. "Riku, don't return to the shadows. You belong in the realm of light now."

"I'm sorry, Sora, but I have to do this," he replied firmly, turning around to leave.

"Riku, wait!"

He turned around at the voice of his other closest friend. Kairi pulled from her chair and jogged between her two best friends. She took both their hands in hers and glanced back and forth between the two. "It doesn't have to repeat," she stated and the two young men knew exactly what she meant. "I want you both to promise me you'll come back." She lingered on Riku's eyes. "Promise that you won't return to the darkness. It's not the answer."

Sora pulled his hand from Kairi's. At first, she was taken aback by his action, but he merely placed his open palm facing down in the air. "I promise," he vowed. Kairi immediately placed her hand over his, and the two looked at Riku. He hesitated slightly but raised his hand and placed it lightly over Kairi's.

"I promise," Riku uttered lightly, yet with a resolute firmness at the same time.

Sora clapped his other hand over Riku's and squeezed it lightly. "Remember, there is always light in the darkness. If the darkness tries to swallow you, seek out that light for protection."

Riku gave a firm nod and slowly slipped his hand back to his side. "I'm sorry," he apologized again, in little more than a whisper this time. "Take care." He turned around and walked towards the exit, not looking back once.

Sora didn't like the idea of separating from his best friends again. But this was required of them. He had to bite the bullet and take everything as it came. Riku and Kairi would be okay, and if not, then he'd just have to rescue them. Everything was topsy-turvy now, but come time for the end, everything would smooth itself into silk. He'd continue to believe that. He had to. It was the only way he'd be willing to let his best friend walk out that door.

"Hold on, Riku!" called the King as he chased after his friend. "We've gotta talk!" But Riku was already on the elevator. The two set off for the surface together, leaving the rest of their friends still in the Vault.

By now, Donald and Goofy had joined Sora and tried to cheer him up as best they could.

"Don't tell me we have to go over this _again!_" huffed Donald. "No sad faces, Sora!"

"Sorry, guys," replied Sora remorsefully. "It's just… we spent all that time searching for him and he's gone again?"

"Sora, don't worry. Everything will be okay," consoled Kairi. "He _is_ Riku after all. He'll be able to take care of himself."

"I know," Sora sighed. "But still… why did he have to leave?"

"He must still have some inner demons to face," she replied. "Relax, Sora. Give him time. That's all he needs right now: time and the knowledge that his friends will wait as long as he needs them to."

"Yeah, you're right," said Sora feeling slightly better. He grinned up at Donald who was about ready to throw a fit. "Sorry, sorry. The boat can run now, right?"

Donald sighed. "You better not try that while we're flying around! We'll crash!"

"Hey! That sounds like fun!" exclaimed Sora with a widened smile, having the complete opposite effect Donald hoped to instill. "Remind me to start frowning while we're onboard."

The royal magician took in a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs, "NOOO!!" Everyone broke into laughter.

"Feelin' better now, Sora?" Goofy inquired.

"Heh, yeah," Sora replied while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Everything will be just fine in the end. I'll make sure of it!"

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Sora," chimed the Queen. "Now if you boys are ready, I'm sure Chip and Dale have the Gummi Ship ready for launch."

Sora glanced over at Kairi. "Will you be okay?"

She nodded. "Don't worry. I have my own trail to follow."

"I promise I'll make this as short as possible," he assured, referencing her earlier statement during their walk through the colonnade.

Kairi lightly chuckled. "I think you have a long road ahead of you, Sora. Don't cut any corners, though. Make sure you do it right."

"I will," the Keyblade Master stated firmly. He offered Kairi one last embrace and grand smile before heading for the elevator with his two comrades. Sora waved at Kairi one last time before the doors slid to a close.

Instead of riding the elevator all the way up, they were transported directly back into the courtyard, falling out of a rift in the sky. In their usual fashion, Sora, Donald, and Goofy landed on each other and groaned while seeing stars.

"Gee, couldn't you guys design something with a better landing…?" murmured Sora.

"Yeah, we've been meaning to fix that," replied Donald.

After getting to their feet, the three musketeers raced to the Gummi Hangar where their ship was raring and ready to go!

"Everything's all set, guys!" chirped Dale.

"Have a safe trip! Make sure to say 'Hi!' to Cid for us, okay?" added Chip.

The three friends bounced into the cockpit and commenced the countdown to lift off. Donald landed in the pilot's seat and started the navigation systems. The computer chimed suddenly, earning a perplexed glare from the duck. "You have one new message!" chimed the computer.

"Uh-oh…" Sora ducked for cover as Donald pressed a button.

The main panel shined with the following message:

_Who's got the sweetest disposition?_

_One guess, that's who?_

_Who'd never, ever start an argument?_

_Who never shows a bit of temperament?_

_Who's never wrong but always right?_

_Who'd never dream of starting a fight?_

_Who get stuck with all the bad luck? _

_No one but Donald Duck!_

_-- Sora_

"Sora!" Donald seethed.

Sora grinned sheepishly. "Eh-heh…surprise?"

Donald looked like he was about to explode.

"Uh, fellas? The countdown's still tickin'!" exclaimed Goofy.

Donald tried to rapidly finish the take-off procedures but was too late. The hatch in the hanger flew open, plummeting the Gummi Ship through the tunnel and out of the world.

"Donald! Quick! Press the button! Press the button!" shouted Sora and Goofy, as their inertia knocked them out of their seats.

Donald frantically swam through the zero gravity cockpit and tapped the button to ignite the thrusters. The Gummi Ship immediately ceased its freefall and blasted off into the stars.

"Next time…remember your…seatbelts…" huffed Donald.

"That goes…for you too…" panted Sora.

"Gawrsh, fellas. Looks like we're on another adventure, huh?" chimed Goofy.

"Yup! Just like old times!" nodded Sora.

"They aren't that old, Sora! We just got back from our last journey a few weeks ago!" Donald pointed out.

"Oh yeah…" Sora mused. "Well, anyway, let's get to it! The sooner we find Dr. Frankenollie, the sooner Riku and the King can relax."

"Ahyuck, and the sooner we get to attend the ball!" added Goofy.

"Yeah!" agreed Sora with a smile. He held out his open palm face down, similarly like he did in the Vault. Goofy and Donald clapped their hands atop his automatically. "All for one, and one for all!"

"You bet!" ahyucked Goofy.

"That's right!" nodded Donald.

"So where to first, guys?" asked Sora.

The three musketeers gazed at the onboard map and plotted their course. They set off on their journey to hopefully stop a madman before the other worlds fell victim to the events at Disney Castle.

Would they succeed?

* * *

**Endnotes:** Just some background info incase you're not familiar with the Disney characters from this chapter:

Cornelius Robertson – Meet the Robinsons

Gadget Hackwrench – Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers

Gyro Gearloose – various Donald and Scrooge storylines

Ludwig von Drake – various Donald storylines, as well as a few cartoon shorts of his own

The Mechanical Man – 1933 Mickey Mouse short "Mickey's Mechanical Man"

Mortimer Mouse – Various Mickey shorts, comics, and Disney's House of Mouse

Merlock – DuckTales: The Movie

On another note, the jingle Sora "wrote" for Donald on the Gummi Ship is one of the opening songs for the older Donald Duck cartoons.

I just want to take this opportunity to state that there will be no original characters in this story (that includes the mysterious man cloaked in black or MMCB as I'm sure my diehard fans will come to affectionately know him, ha, ha). Aside from the average nameless Joe (i.e. an unnamed officer or firefighter), every character in this story is either from Disney, Square-Enix, or both.

One final note: This is officially the longest chapter I have ever written. I sincerely hope you've enjoyed it. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.


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